Ohio’s successful RPS program under attack in State Senate

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 18:01 (Solarserver)

Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA, Washington, D.C.) on October 29th, 2013, revealed that the state senate of Ohio, U.S., is considering a bill that would dramatically lower the Renewable Energy Standard Portfolio (RPS) requirements outlined by Ohio’s current law. These requirements are considered to spur innovation and promote scale – driving down costs and making solar photovoltaic (PV) and renewables increasingly competitive with other forms of electricity generation. Read more

New twist in Suntech sale as Wuxi Guolian dangles US$150 million carrot

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 16:53 (PV-Tech)

The sale of Suntech Wuxi took a new twist today as a local government controlled firm offered to provide a US$150 million cash injection in a rival bid. Read more

Conergy to construct 22MW in Philippines

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 12:33 (PV-Tech)

Conergy has gained its first major order in the Philippines for a 22MW solar farm. Read more

PV Taiwan 2013: Taiwan PV industry calls for more government support

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 0:15 (PV-Tech)

Although Taiwan has become the second largest solar cell manufacturing base next to China, policies in place to support domestic PV installations only stretch to a meagre target of 200MW. Read more

Geostellar, Conergy to provide complete solar PV program for residential installers in the U.S.

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 18:20 (Solarserver)

Geostellar (Martinsburg, WV, U.S.) and Conergy AG (Hamburg, Germany) on October 29th, 2013, announced a partnership that will create a national program for qualified local solar photovoltaic (PV) installers in the U.S.. The alliance includes solar PV equipment packages, financing options and customer acquisition programs, which today can only be found in the handful of states where solar leases are available, the partners note. Read more

Solar-integrated consumer electronics: Ascent Solar announces more than doubled EnerPlex sales

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 18:05 (Solarserver)

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (Thornton, Colorado, U.S.) on October 28th, 2013, announced Q3 revenues of USD 275,000, an increase of approximately 22% over Q2. More significantly, sales of its EnerPlex branded solar photovoltaic (PV) consumer products more than doubled quarter over quarter to USD 238,000. Q3 Government R&D contract revenue declined more than 85% in large part due to delay in government funding, the company notes. Read more

DECC confirms solar support not part of Cameron’s ‘green levies review’

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 17:08 (Solarpowerportal)

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has released a statement confirming that investor schemes such as the feed-in tariff (FiT), renewables obligation (RO) and contracts for difference (CfD) will not be affected by the Prime Minister’s ‘green levies review’. Read more

Chile project receives 1.2MW modules from Jinko Solar

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 16:33 (PV-Tech)

Crystalline module manufacturer Jinko Solar has supplied 1.2MW of PV modules for a project in Chile. Read more

Total, EDF, French Government to create French solar PV R&D center

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 14:11 (Solarserver)

Total SA (Paris), utility EDF SA (Paris) and other public and private organizations have partnered to create a French solar photovoltaic (PV) research and development (R&D) center near Paris, which will receive EUR 18.5 million (USD 25.5) million in funding from the French National Research Agency (ANR). Read more

French government signs €18.5 million deal with solar R&D institute co-founded by Total and EDF

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 14:08 (PV-Tech)

The French government has signed an agreement for €18.5 million with an solar R&D institute founded by Total and EDF. Read more

PassivSystems to partner with Freetricity in £50 million solar PV deal

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 13:51 (Solarpowerportal)

PassivSystems has agreed a contract with Freetricity to provide monitoring for the company’s latest £50 million ‘free solar’ campaign. Read more

Doncaster Rovers installs 50kWp solar array at the Keepmoat Stadium

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 12:44 (Solarpowerportal)

Doncaster Rovers has become the first football league club to install solar panels on its stadium, following the completion of a 50kWp solar array at the Keepmoat Stadium. Read more

Canadian Solar secures US$99.5 million Deutsche Bank loan

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 12:31 (PV-Tech)

Canadian Solar has signed an agreement with Deutsche Bank for a CAD$104 million (US$99.5 million) loan. Read more

Canadian Solar secures CAD$104 million Deutsche Bank loan

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 12:31 (PV-Tech)

Canadian Solar has signed an agreement with Deutsche Bank for a CAD$104 million (US$99.5 million) loan. Read more

Extra funding approved for residential PV in San Diego

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 10:36 (PV-Tech)

Additional funding has been released for residential solar under the San Diego California Solar Initiative (CSI) programme. Read more

India Solar: RfS for phase 2 of National Solar Mission released

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 10:33 (Solarserver)

On October 29th, 2013 the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) released its request for selection (RfS) for 750 MW of grid-tied solar photovoltaic (PV) plants under phase 2, batch 1 of India's National Solar Mission (NSM). This comes just days after the nation's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) released final guidelines for phase 2 on October 25th, 2013. These guidelines make minor changes to earlier proposals regarding the viability gap funding (VGF) mechanism, and set minimum output standards. Read more

Public utility UTE receives bids for 27 MW of utility-scale solar PV plants in Uruguay

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 10:18 (Solarserver)

Public utility UTE (Montevideo, Uruguay) has received proposals for 27 MW of utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) projects under a new program to support PV in the nation. This includes seven bids for 1 MW plants and four for 5 MW plants, at prices ranging from USD 0.0935-0.160/kWh. According to PV Magazine, this solicitation follows a recent program to add 200 MW of PV in the nation, which ran from May through September 2013. Read more

SunPower and Flextronics celebrate production of 500,000 solar PV panels in Milpitas, CA

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 10:12 (Solarserver)

SunPower Corp. (San Jose, CA, USA) and its manufacturing partner, Flextronics (Singapore, Singapore) on October 28th, 2013, celebrated the production milestone of 500,000 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels manufactured at the Flextronics facility in Milpitas, California. Dedicated in April 2011, the plant employs more than 100 people and produces between 80 and 90 megawatts annually, depending on the size of the solar PV panels being produced. Read more

NPD Solarbuzz: China became the world's largest solar PV market in Q3 2013

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 9:00 (Solarserver)

NPD Solarbuzz Inc. (Santa Clara, California, U.S.) has published a new analysis which estimates that China represented 25% of the 9 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) demand in the third quarter of 2013. Solarbuzz Senior Analyst Michael Barker notes that China has been the largest PV manufacturer since 2007, and “dominates” PV production from ingot to module. The only exception to this is polysilicon, which Barker notes is more geographically diverse. Read more

SPI 13 Solar Event Marketing Trends: The Good, the Bad, and the Hmm…

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 9:00 (Renewable Energy World)

Most people go to SPI to see the latest and greatest solar products. As a solar marketing pro, I go to see the latest and greatest in solar event marketing trends. How are people grabbing people’s attention? What are people doing at their booths? Are booths bigger? Smaller? More interactive? I gained a lot of insights from what I observed this year Read more

Solar in India: RESolve warns NSM phase 2 bidders of potential solar PV price increases

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 8:55 (Solarserver)

RESolve Energy Consultants (Chennai, India) has released a new analysis which warns that solar photovoltaic (PV) products may become more difficult to source in 2014, and that prices may increase on rising demand. The firm quotes global PV market estimates of between 41 GW by IHS Inc. (Englewood, Colorado, U.S.) and 45 - 55 GW by NPD Solarbuzz (Santa Clara, California, U.S.), stating that prospective bidders under phase 2 of the India's National Solar Mission (NSM) should account for potentially higher prices. Read more

Rooftop solar PV installations on the rise in U.S. middle class, report says

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 8:49 (Solarserver)

According to a research made by the Center for American Progress (CAP, Washington DC, USA), since 2000 more than 1,460 megawatts of residential solar photovoltaic (PV) installations have been installed across the United States, and more than 80% of that capacity was added in the past four years. Through analysis of solar PV installation data from Arizona, California, and New Jersey, CAP found that the installations are overwhelmingly occurring in middle-class neighbourhoods with incomes ranging from USD 40,000 to USD 90,000. Read more

Uptick in interest but no orders from solar manufacturers for BTU International

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 0:08 (PV-Tech)

PV equipment supplier, BTU International reported third quarter net sales of US$12.0 million, down 15.7% compared to US$14.2 million in the preceding quarter as little sales activity was generated from the PV sector. Read more

Make Hay: The Global Bioenergy Mood

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 9:54 (Renewable Energy World)

About the only thing we know that twists in more gut-wrenching ways than global oil prices — or, even, the twisting Alpengeist rollercoaster at Williamsburg’s Busch Gardens — has to be the global bioenergy mood. Read more

Energy Storage: PNM Prosperity project named as a finalist in U.S. sustainable innovation competition

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 18:13 (Solarserver)

The PNM Prosperity Energy Storage Project (Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.) has been named as a finalist in the 2013 Platts Global Energy Awards (New York, NY, U.S.) in the sustainable innovation category. Prosperity is a grid-tied solar photovoltaic (PV) installation south of Albuquerque that uses batteries and smart grid technology to study key challenges posed by solar power, e.g. how to store energy for later use, and how to keep fluctuating energy production from affecting the quality and reliability of the electricity delivered to consumers. Read more

Major European Utility Set for Dramatic Renewable Energy Transformation

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 16:57 (Renewable Energy World)

One of Europe’s largest utilities is on the cusp of reportedly transforming its business from being a traditional energy provider into a renewable energy provider. Read more

Managing and Reducing Risk for Renewable Technologies

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 15:12 (Renewable Energy World)

In recent years the use of renewable technologies to generate power has increased at an exponential rate. This growing focus on new sources of energy has seen increased investment in renewable technologies across the globe. Read more

Dii predicts renewable energy in MENA to reach 3.3 GW by 2015, proposes investment vehicle

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 15:06 (Solarserver)

The Desertec Industrial Initiative (Dii GmbH) has forecast that the capacity of renewable energy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) will nearly double to 3.3 GW by 2015, at the opening of the 4th Dii Desert Energy Conference in Rabat, Morocco. The organization predicts that Morocco will play a leading role, increasing its renewable energy from 600 MW to 1.7 GW. Read more

PV system and mini-grid brings electricity to remote Laos village

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 13:59 (PV-Tech)

Sunlabob Renewable Energy has completed work on a mini-grid that will supply electricity to a remote village in rural Laos. Read more

EnergyTrend: Asia-Pacific will lead global PV recovery

Wednesday, 10.30.2013 - 13:07 (PV-Tech)

Trendforce research division EnergyTrend has issued a new report in which it claims that Asian market demand is exceeding that of other regions including Europe. Read more