CEC review of Blythe PV projects finds “significant” impacts

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 15:54 (Solarserver)

The California Energy Commission (CEC) has released its full staff analysis of the proposed Blythe solar photovoltaic (PV) project in Southern California, which finds that it would have “significant” cumulative impacts in several areas, even with mitigation measures. Read more

Proinso presents new PV/Diesel hybrid systems

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 15:34 (Solarserver)

Proinso SL (Fustiñana, Spain) on October 14th, 2013, presented its PV/Diesel hybrid power generation systems, combining solar photovoltaic (PV) panels and a diesel generator as a backup power source. The sizes range goes from 300kVA to 6MVA, and they can help to reduce diesel consumption by 66,000L/year in a 300kVA engine, Proinso notes. Read more

Suntech bondholders seek Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings to return funds

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 15:15 (PV-Tech)

Having received court judgements on non-repaid loans from Suntech Power Holdings, some of the small bondholders are seeking Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings against the company. Read more

Chilean President Piñera signs 20/25 law

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 15:02 (Solarserver)

On October 14th, 2013, Chilean President Sebastian Piñera signed into law a bill which mandates that utilities source 20% of their electricity from “non-conventional” renewable energy (ERNC), including solar photovoltaics (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) by 2025. The law will create annual solicitations to purchase electricity from ERNC sources. Read more

Waxman announces Hanwha Q Cells partnership

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 18:50 (Solarpowerportal)

UK-based solar distributor Waxman Energy has signed a new distribution agreement with Hanwha Q Cells, part of the South Korean Hanwha Group. Read more

New Litigation Trips Up Chinese Solar Recovery

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 17:55 (Renewable Energy World)

The solar sector’s slow recovery is receiving some new setbacks in the form of lawsuits by 2 bankrupt US companies against Yingli (NYSE: YGE), Trina (NYSE: TSL) and Suntech (NYSE: STP), the last of which is also in bankruptcy reorganization. Adding to the mess, Suntech has just disclosed that more of its European assets have been seized by the Ital Read more

Standard Solar, Solar Grid Storage activate commercial 402.3 kW PV micro-grid in Laurel, Maryland

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 15:44 (Solarserver)

Standard Solar, Inc. (Rockville, MD, U.S.), in collaboration with Solar Grid Storage (Silver Spring, MD, U.S.) and the Maryland Energy Administration, on October 15th, 2013 officially activated the Konterra solar microgrid system at Konterra’s corporate headquarters in Laurel, MD, USA. The grid-interactive energy storage system is co-located with a new 1,368 panel solar photovoltaic (PV) canopy array, and one of the first commercial scale micro-grids in the United States. Read more

Strip Tinning opens new Birmingham solar production line

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 14:15 (Solarpowerportal)

Automotive connector and heated glazing manufacturer Strip Tinning has opened a new prototype line that produces string ribbon for solar cells. Read more

South Africa to get €100 million French loan for solar projects

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 12:26 (PV-Tech)

France is to lend €100 million to South Africa’s national utility Eskom to support the development of solar energy in the country. Read more

SolarCity PV deployments boom, more growth expected

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 12:02 (Solarserver)

SolarCity Corp. (San Mateo, California, U.S.) reports that its deployments of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems increased 43% sequentially to reach a record 78 MW during the third quarter of 2013, in a partial release of quarterly results. The company expects to deploy a total of 278 MW during fiscal year 2013, which will mean another 101 MW of PV systems in the fourth quarter. This is more than SolarCity deployed in the first two quarters of 2013, and the company expects this rapid growth to increase again in 2014 to 475-525 MW of PV systems. Read more

ET Solar supplies solar PV modules for 4.8 MW of Chilean projects

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 11:49 (Solarserver)

ET Solar Group Corp. (Nanjing, China) has provided 4.8 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules to Coener SpA (Santiago, Chile) for two PV projects in the “Near North” of Chile. The PSF Pama and PSF Lomas Coloradas will each be 2.4 MW in capacity, and will be located in Combarbala in the Coquimbo Region. Andacollo de Inversiones (Coquimbo, Chile) will own the plants, which Coener expects to complete by the end of 2013. Read more

First Solar to sell Mesa, Arizona facility at a loss

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 8:49 (Solarserver)

First Solar Inc. (Tempe, Arizona, U.S.) has entered into an agreement to sell an operations and maintenance (O&M) facility in Mesa, Arizona, from which it expects to net more than USD 100 million in cash, as well as saving USD 10 million annually in operating expenses. However, the company expects to report a loss of USD 55-60 million against the value of the facility, which it will incur at the third quarter of 2013. The company will also incur USD 5-10 million in costs, which will include the relocation of 80 O&M employees to First Solar headquarters in Tempe, Arizona. Read more

Asahi Glass to quit solar glass production at plant in Suzhou, China

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 8:34 (Solarserver)

Asahi Glass Co. Ltd. (AGC, Tokyo) has announced that it will transition its factory in Suzhou, China from making glass for solar photovoltaic (PV) modules and will begin making automotive glass in 2015. AGC cites both a healthy market for glass in China's auto industry and excessive Chinese investments in PV glass. The company notes that in 2012 it closed a PV cover glass facility in the United States and stopped producing raw glass for PV modules in the Philippines. Read more

Lightsource agrees £30 million solar farm funding package with Investec

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 3:38 (Solarpowerportal)

Lightsource Renewable Energy and Investec Bank have announced the refinancing of four solar farms with a total capacity of 38MW across the UK. Read more

The 4 Monster Myths of Renewable Fuels

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 15:11 (Renewable Energy World)

“Number one, there’s no brand loyalty in the fuel business, they’ll tell you right away,” Matt Horton explained to delegates at this year’s Algae Biomass Summit, where the still-youthful but now seasoned Propel Fuels CEO was giving a keynote address. “Two, people only care about price. Three, they have no real interest in the content of the fuel. Four, they are afraid of putting new fuels in their car.” Read more

The Air Up There: Wind Energy Remote Sensing Gains Ground

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 15:08 (Renewable Energy World)

Five years ago, First Wind's in-house meteorological team zeroed in on a couple of new potential wind farm areas in Maine that were different: moderate-elevation plateaus instead of the traditionally preferred high-elevation ridgetop locations. At the time, those sites looked like "a little bit of a gamble," recalled Dave Fowler, First Wind's director of development for the New England region. But the company put up a few meteorological (MET) test towers at those sites, and after a couple of years added newer remote-sensing technologies to broaden the wind data collection - and found there was "really impressive wind resource" at those locations, added Matt Kearns, First Read more

Is Dam Removal Really an Environmental Panacea?

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 17:58 (Renewable Energy World)

We report on dam removal fairly regularly on HydroWorld.com, as part of our commitment to bring you comprehensive news on the hydroelectric power industry. Avoiding this particular subset of the industry, despite the overt negative connotations, would be an obvious oversight. Dam removal happens, and we need to talk about it. However, I have mixed Read more

EnergyTrend: Polysilicon supply constraints due in Q1 2014

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 18:11 (PV-Tech)

According to a research note from EnergyTrend, a research division of TrendForce based in Taiwan, PV demand could potentially outstrip supply by the first quarter of 2014. Read more

Germany Seeks Renewable Energy Reform as Households Pay Record Green Surcharge

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 16:37 (Renewable Energy World)

Germany’s power grid operators boosted the surcharge consumers pay for renewable energy by 18 percent to a record, adding to pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government to act against rising electricity bills. Read more

Ontario Kills Coal, But Local Renewables Program Falters

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 16:00 (Renewable Energy World)

It was one of the most ambitious renewable energy programs in the world when it launched in 2009, committing the Canadian province to buy power from thousands of new renewable energy systems.  It was open and accessible to the average person, and it was committed to buying power only from projects that were "made in Ontario."  And it was part of a Read more

MBB Clean Energy AG acquires three PV plants totalling 11 MW in Sicily, Italy

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 15:39 (Solarserver)

MBB Clean Energy AG (Munich, Germany) has signed purchase contracts for the acquisition of three solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants in Sicily, Italy, with a combined generation capacity of 11 M, and connected to the grid in 2012. The seller is Dresser-Rand (Houston, Texas, U.S.), a global supplier of equipment solutions to the oil, gas, petrochemical, power, and process industries. Read more

German renewable levy to rise in 2014

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 14:40 (PV-Tech)

The green payment for renewable energy subsidies in Germany, or “umlage”, is to rise by €0.005 per kWh in 2014. Read more

EU fast tracks grid and storage projects

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 13:51 (PV-Tech)

The European Commission has announced a list of 140 electricity projects that will be fast tracked and have access to a funding pot of €5.85 billion (US$7.9 billion). Read more

Brazil extends application deadline for tender auction

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 13:00 (PV-Tech)

The deadline for energy projects to apply for a government tender auction, that includes PV for the first time, has been extended. Read more

Clean energy investment continues to fall: BNEF

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 11:58 (PV-Tech)

Investment in clean energy in the third quarter of 2013 was down 20% year-on-year, marking a “worrying” loss of momentum in the sector, according Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Read more

EC adopts list of energy infrastructure projects including transmission and energy storage

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 11:57 (Solarserver)

On October 14th, 2013 the European Commission (EC) adopted a list of 248 key energy infrastructure projects, which it says will help integrate European energy markets and strengthen security of supply by diversifying energy sources. This includes 140 transmission projects, including international high-voltage direct current (HVDC) links, as well as pumped hydro storage and smart grid projects. “Projects of common interest” will benefit from faster planning, improved regulatory conditions, and may also be eligible for EU funds. Read more

Clean Energy Investment Continues Drop in 3Q

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 11:43 (Renewable Energy World)

Clean-energy investment fell 14 percent in the third quarter from the prior three months as Europe curbed subsidies and cheaper U.S. natural gas lured investment. Read more

BNEF: Global clean energy investment falls in Q3 2013

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 8:56 (Solarserver)

Global investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, storage and electric vehicles fell 14% in the third quarter of 2013 to USD 45.9 billion, according to a report issued by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF, New York City). BNEF also predicts that 36.7 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity will be installed during the year, but notes that due to lower costs per watt, investments in solar will “almost certainly” be below 2012 levels. Read more

Sustainable energy fund announces 0% financing program for renewable energy, PV in Pennsylvania

Tuesday, 10.15.2013 - 0:03 (Solarserver)

John Costlow, Director of Technical Services, Sustainable Energy Fund (SEF, Allentown, PA, USA) announced the introduction of SEF's new Sustainable Energy Finance program at the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce Energy & Environment Conference. Sustainable Energy Fund is issuing a Request for Applications for the new program on October 15th, 2013. Loans or leases will be made for projects between USD 5,000 and USD 90,000 on a first-come, first-serve basis until program funds are exhausted. The deadline for the application submissions is 4:00 p.m. (EST) on January 15th, 2014. Read more