AEG Power Solutions introduces two new, UL-certified PV inverters designed for the Americas at SPI 2013

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 16:33 (Solarserver)

AEG Power Solutions (Zwanenburg, The Netherlands) will present two new members of its solar photovoltaic (PV) inverter line for the Americas at Solar Power International (SPI): the UL-certified Protect PV.500 OD UL and Protect PV.630 OD UL central inverters. Also new, the TKS-P is a system based around the inverters, designed for utility-scale solar PV megawatt power plants. It is connected to the PV array on one side and to the transfer station on the other side, and can be put into operation immediately. Read more

Panasonic Eco Solutions, Coronal Management acquire new 16 MW PV project portfolio in California

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 16:26 (Solarserver)

Panasonic Eco Solutions North America (Newark, NJ, U.S.) and Coronal Management, LLC (Newark, NJ, USA) acquired 16.2 MW of California Renewable Energy Small Tariff (CREST) solar photovoltaic (PV) projects from Macquarie Capital (Sidney, Australia). The portfolio consists of nine solar PV projects located in Tulare and Kings Counties, and Panasonic provided 100% of the initial financing needed for this transaction. The projects will be built by ImMODO Energy Services Corporation and Panasonic Eco Solutions by the middle of 2014. These projects bring the total of assets jointly developed by the Coronal-Panasonic relationship to over 30 MW. Read more

SPI 2013: Enphase pushes fourth gen microinverter into commercial markets

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 16:00 (PV-Tech)

Highlighting its ‘M250’ microinverter at Solar Power International 2013, Enphase System has enhanced its software capabilities to further target its fourth generation technology at the commercial rooftop market and enterprise level management of residential customer systems. Read more

SPI 2013: Suntech launches 1500V frameless utility-scale solar module

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 13:58 (PV-Tech)

Suntech Power Holdings is introducing a higher voltage PV module, engineered for utility-scale and commercial applications in the US at Solar Power International 2013. Read more

SunPower’s E20/327 solar modules pass PV Evolution Labs PID test

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 11:15 (PV-Tech)

SunPower has said that its E20/327 solar modules have passed potential induced degradation (PID) testing at PV Evolution Labs. Read more

SPI 2013: Chint Power Systems offering low-cost UL certified inverter product line

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 9:58 (PV-Tech)

Chint Power Systems said it had expanded its range of UL approved inverter solutions to address all market segments such as residential, commercial and utility-scale PV sectors in the US. Read more

Sungrow to present new three-phase PV inverters at SPI

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 8:40 (Solarserver)

Sungrow Power Supply Co. Ltd.'s (Hefei, China) Canadian subsidiary will present new 30 kW and 36 kW 3-phase string inverters for the United States market at the Solar Power International 2013 (SPI) trade show in Chicago on October 22nd, 2013. Sungrow notes that its UL- and CSA-certified SG30KU/SG36KU inverters feature 98% CEC efficiency, 1,000 V-DC input and a lightweight design. Other new products to be presented at the show include an 800 kW central inverter, and a 16 string combiner box with string-level monitoring. Read more

SPI 2013: 3M backside busbar tape reduces silver paste requirements

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 18:02 (PV-Tech)

At Solar Power International 2013, 3M Renewable Energy is debuting its latest backside busbar tape, ‘4706’ which allows manufacturers to eliminate silver-based backside busbars, enabling cost savings and protecting against the volatility of silver prices. Read more

Industry frustration at DECC’s nuclear versus solar land use claims

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 17:55 (Solarpowerportal)

The Department of Energy and Climate Change has been criticised for releasing an infographic demonstrating how much more land would be required for solar power to match the output of the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant. Read more

Chinese ZTE Corporation to expand solar business in Africa

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 16:42 (Solarserver)

ZTE Corporation (Shenzhen, China), provider of telecommunications equipment, network solutions and mobile devices, is working with governments and enterprises across 15 African countries, including Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Niger, to deploy the use of solar energy. ZTE increased its investment in the field of renewable energy in Africa, which suffers from constant power shortages leaving more than 580 million people to light their homes with kerosene lamps, the company emphasizes. Read more

SunPower E20/327 solar PV panels achieve lowest potential induced degradation, test shows

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 16:37 (Solarserver)

SunPower Corporation (San Jose, California, U.S.) on October 18th, 2013, announced that its E20/327 solar photovoltaic (PV) panel underwent stringent third-party testing for potential induced degradation (PID) by PV Evolution Labs (Berkeley, CA, U.S.). Upon completion, the solar panels showed a power loss of less than 0.2%, while the average degradation of PV modules that passed this test is approximately 4-5%. SunPower earned certificates in all grounding configurations, and its PV panels degraded at a rate 20 times lower compared against conventional panels. Only 50% of all panels tested successfully passed the program's criteria. Read more

China extends distributed solar target to 20GW by 2015

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 16:35 (PV-Tech)

China has extended its distributed solar capacity target to 20GW by 2015. Read more

China Solar Energy Says Directors Detained Amid Fraud Probe

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 16:17 (Renewable Energy World)

China Solar Energy Holdings Ltd., the solar panel maker that’s lost 93 percent of its market value since 2007, said its chairman and two directors have been detained by Chinese authorities on allegations of fraud. Read more

SPI 2013: Santerno develops PV Power Plant Controller

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 16:05 (PV-Tech)

Italy-based Santerno has developed an in-house PV Power Plant Controller (PPC) for utility-scale power plants intended to provide a single point of integrated control and monitoring that is said to reduce costs. The company is showcasing the technology at Solar Power International 2013, booth #746. Read more

Time to Reconsider Solar Net Metering Alternatives: Storage

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 15:39 (Renewable Energy World)

Stories are abounding in the media on electric utilities being nervous and down right reactionary to adding solar (and wind) on the electric grid. On October 15th, The Huffington Post’s story on the Hawaii Electric Company (HECO) reported, “hundreds of Oahu customers have gotten burned in their transition to solar. They have gotten caught in limbo since September 6 when HECO changed the rules for connecting solar systems.” Read more

Time to Consider Solar Net Metering Alternatives: Storage

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 15:39 (Renewable Energy World)

The media has recently been full of stories about electric utilities being nervous and down right reactionary to adding solar (and wind) on the electric grid. On October 15th, The Huffington Post’s story on the Hawaii Electric Company (HECO) reported, “hundreds of Oahu customers have gotten burned in their transition to solar. They have gotten caught in limbo since September 6 when HECO changed the rules for connecting solar systems.” Read more

Tata Solar commissions solar plant in Karnataka

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 15:28 (PV-Tech)

Indian solar manufacturer and EPC firm, Tata Solar has commissioned a 10MW solar power plant in the state of Karnataka. Read more

SPI 2013: Trojan Battery provides online calculations for off-grid storage needs

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 15:07 (PV-Tech)

Trojan Battery has developed an automated battery sizing calculator to accurately size a battery bank for renewable energy applications, which it is demonstrating at Solar Power International 2013, on booth #4226. Read more

SPI 2013: SolarEdge displays extended line of single phase solar inverters

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 14:45 (PV-Tech)

At Solar Power International 2013, SolarEdge will display its new extended line of high power single phase solar inverters with up to 11.4kWac power level. Read more

Murcia local government takes Spain’s solar shutdown laws to constitutional court

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 14:12 (PV-Tech)

The local government of the region of Murcia is taking the Spanish government to the country’s constitutional court over its attempts to cull support for solar energy in the country. Read more

Asia Report: Four Reasons Why Solar Can Unseat Coal in India This Decade

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

Coal contributes 60 percent to India's power mix today; solar is less than 1 percent. But what was a factor-of-seven difference between the cost of coal and solar two years ago shrank this summer to just a 1.8x gap. Can solar catch up within the next ten years? Read more

Three China Solar board members held in fraud probe

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 13:56 (PV-Tech)

Three senior board members of struggling Chinese PV manufacturer China Solar Energy Holdings have been detained by Chinese authorities following allegations of fraud. Read more

Vivint secures US$540 million for residential solar

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 13:50 (PV-Tech)

North American third-party solar installer, Vivint, has secured US$540 million in investment to expands its residential solar business. Read more

Southern Company commissions 30 MW solar PV plant in Nevada

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 13:05 (Solarserver)

Southern Company (Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.) and Turner Renewable Energy (Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.) have commissioned a 30 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in the U.S. state of Nevada. Read more

JinkoSolar signs up to build 120MW distributed PV project in Jiangsu

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 12:50 (PV-Tech)

Chinese module manufacturer, Jinko Solar, signed a strategic agreement last week to build what is said will be China’s largest distributed PV plant. Read more

Eric Pickles overturns planner’s recommendation for solar farm approval

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 11:31 (Solarpowerportal)

Local government secretary Eric Pickles has personally intervened to overturn a solar farm appeal which had been recommended for approval. Read more

Is SolarCity the Next Amazon of Residential Solar?

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 9:42 (Renewable Energy World)

SolarCity has become a sort of proxy for the future of solar in this country. This tremendously successful company is coming up on a one year anniversary of its IPO in December. Several developments at SolarCity warrant a closer look into this dynamic company trying to stay ahead of the curve in a growing, competitive solar installation environment. Read more

Is SolarCity the Next Amazon of Solar?

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 9:42 (Renewable Energy World)

SolarCity has become a sort of proxy for the future of solar in this country. This tremendously successful company is coming up on a one year anniversary of its IPO in December. Several developments at SolarCity warrant a closer look into this dynamic company trying to stay ahead of the curve in a growing, competitive solar installation environment. Read more

SPI 2013: Panasonic displays special order double bifacial HIT module

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 9:39 (PV-Tech)

Panasonic Eco Solutions North America is displaying its new ‘HIT Double’ bifacial solar panel ‘VBHN225DA02’ at Solar Power International 2013. Read more

Vivint Solar raises USD 540 million in residential solar financing

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 9:15 (Solarserver)

Vivint Solar (Provo, Utah, U.S.) has raised USD 540 million from two un-named financial institutions to support its third-party solar photovoltaic (PV) offerings for the U.S. residential market. This new funding is in addition to the USD 200 million of tax equity financing that Vivint Solar announced in August 2013. Read more

Solar Power International Start-up Alley finalists chosen

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 9:09 (Solarserver)

The Solar Power International (SPI) trade show has announced ten finalists for its Start-Up Alley competition. These include web-based solar engineering start-up GreenLancer.com (Detroit, Michigan, U.S.) and cloud-based solar commerce platform Solar Exchange (Menlo Park, California, U.S.). The ten companies will present their business proposals to judges in the final competition, to take place on Wednesday, October 23rd, 2013, at the show in Chicago's McCormick Place. Read more

1.93 GW of U.S. utility-scale solar PV added in first nine months of 2013

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 8:52 (Solarserver)

United States federal regulators report that the nation added only 7 MW of utility-scale solar electric capacity at 5 plants in September 2013. While this was a very slow month, the nation has installed a total of 1.93 GW of utility-scale solar at 146 plants in the first three quarters of 2013. This is almost double the capacity added in the first nine months of 2012, and represents much larger PV plants. According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) latest “Energy Infrastructure Update”, utility-scale solar makes up only 0.54% of the nation's generating capacity, and represents an even smaller portion of overall electricity generation. Read more

France to provide USD 140 million in financing for concentrating solar power plant in South Africa

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 8:46 (Solarserver)

The French Development Agency (AFD) has agreed to provide a EUR 100 million (USD 140 million) credit facility to public utility Eskom (Sunninghill, South Africa) to support the construction of a 100 MW concentrating solar power (CSP) plant in South Africa's Northern Cape. AFD is co-financing the project together with the African Development Bank, Clean Technology Fund, European Investment Bank, Germany's KfW, and the World Bank. Read more

Is Straw Germany's Next Big Energy Resource?

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 15:52 (Renewable Energy World)

Straw from agriculture could play an important role in the future energy mix for Germany. Up until now it has been underutilised as a biomass residue and waste material. These were the conclusions of a study conducted by the TLL (Thueringian regional institute for agriculture), the DBFZ (German biomass research center) and the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ). Read more

Just a few days left to submit an abstract to speak at Renewable Energy World India and Central Asia. If you are interested in speaking at the show, submit your abstract TODAY!

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 15:47 (Renewable Energy World)

http://www.pennwellregistration.com/Abstract/abstractSubmit?confId=554 Read more

Renewable Energy to represent 12% of South Africa's energy mix in 2020

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 13:50 (Solarserver)

Citing the nation's renewable energy solicitations, Frost & Sullivan (Mountain View, California, U.S.) forecasts that renewable energy will grow from 1% of South Africa's energy supply in 2012 to 12% in 2020. Read more

Hinkley strike price could reach £92.50

Monday, 10.21.2013 - 12:43 (Solarpowerportal)

The price per megawatt hour of generated electricity at Hinkley Point C could reach £92.50 if EDF does not go ahead with the Sizewell C nuclear power station. Read more