SEUK: Conergy now ‘much better’ than before insolvency

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 19:03 (Solarpowerportal)

Talking to Solar Power Portal at Solar Energy UK, Robert Goss, managing director for Conergy UK and Ireland said since gaining new investment, Conergy is “much better than before” it filed for insolvency. Read more

Exclusive: UNSW to lead major Asian-based solar cell manufacturer R&D initiative

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 9:15 (PV-Tech)

Professor Stuart Wenham of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) is leading a new PV cell processing initiative with many of the largest Asia-based cell manufacturers in a programme that is expected to improve silicon quality and cell performance. Read more

India's MNRE issues new draft of Phase 2 NSM guidelines; sets tentative dates for project selection

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 8:57 (Solarserver)

India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has issued a second draft of guidelines for phase 2 of the nation's National Solar Mission (NSM), and has set tentative dates for a request for selection (RfS) for 750 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects to participate in the program. Interested parties will have until October 10th, 2013 to comment on the new draft guidelines. Phase 2 will utilize the viability gap funding (VGF) mechanism, and developers will bid for the amount of VGF to receive, in addition to the sale of electricity at a standard tariff of INR 4.95-5.45 (USD 0.080-0.088) per kWh. Read more

California's AB-327 Officially Signed Into Law

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 21:11 (Renewable Energy World)

It's official: California Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown has signed Assembly Bill 327, which addresses several topics critical to solar energy in the nation's biggest solar energy state: extending net metering and the renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS). Read more

SEUK: Belectric UK chief challenges Barker’s nuclear cost claim

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 18:44 (Solarpowerportal)

The UK head of leading German solar EPC firm Belectric has disputed suggestions by energy minister Greg Barker that solar energy is still more expensive than nuclear. Read more

SEUK: Inazin Power - ‘industry is buzzing’

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 17:48 (Solarpowerportal)

Renewable energy developer, Inazin Power, who has been nominated for a Solar Power Portal award, has described the solar industry at SEUK this year as “buzzing”. Read more

Solar PV Module Quality Concerns Still Exist for Developing World

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 16:16 (Renewable Energy World)

For the global solar photovoltaic industry, it is not a question of whether poor-quality or lesser-quality PV modules are making their way into the marketplace. They are. The more relevant question is when will the industry begin to see the effects of these lesser quality modules, and where will the impacts will be felt? Read more

PROINSO to distribute Zeversolar inverters

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 16:02 (Solarserver)

PROINSO SL (Fustiñana, Spain) will begin distributing inverters by Jiangsu Zeversolar New Energy Co. Ltd. (Suzhou, China) in October 2013, as announced at the Solarenergy UK trade show in Birmingham on October 8th. Zeversolar's 1.5-5 kW single phase inverters from and 4-20 kW three-phase inverters already possess the G83 or G59 certificate for use in the UK. Read more

Houston, TX, based PV distributor Ontility selects Mage Solar as new Gold Partner

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 15:52 (Solarserver)

Mage Solar (Dublin, GA, U.S.) has entered a partnership program with wholesale solar photovoltaic (PV) equipment distributor Ontility (Houston, TX, U.S.), and on October 5th, 2013 announced that it has been named an Ontility Gold Partner. Read more

World Solar Challenge 2013: Semprius supplies lightweight PV modules to power Nuon Solar Team’s car

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 15:47 (Solarserver)

Semprius, Inc. (Durham, North Carolina, U.S.) delivered a specially-designed lightweight version of its high concentration solar photovoltaic modules (HCPV) to the Nuon Solar Team (Delft, The Netherlands) to help power Nuna7, the Team’s solar car for the World Solar Challenge 2013. With 40 teams from 29 countries, the World Solar Challenge is the most important race for solar vehicles. Covering 3,000 kilometres, the race begins in Darwin, Australia, on October 6th and finishes in Adelaide, on October 13th. Read more

Canadian Solar sells two utility-scale PV plants totalling 20 MW to a BlackRock fund

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 15:38 (Solarserver)

Canadian Solar Inc. (Guelph, Ontario, Canada) on October 3rd, 2013, announced that its subsidiary, Canadian Solar Solutions Inc., entered into an agreement with a fund managed by BlackRock (New York, U.S.) on the acquisition of two utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants. The solar PV plants are located in Demorestville and Odessa, (Ontario, Canada), and on September 30th, 2013, were totalling 20 MW (AC). Black Rock acquired the power plants at a valuation comparable to other recent PV project sales completed by Canadian Solar on a per megawatt basis in the Ontario market. Read more

SEUK: Sputnik Engineering signs Solfex deal for SolarMax inverter distribution in UK

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 15:25 (Solarpowerportal)

Swiss firm Sputnik Engineering, manufacturer of SolarMax inverters, has announced a UK distribution deal with Solfex, part of the Travis Perkins building merchant group. Read more

El Salvador to launch bidding process for 60 MW of utility-scale solar PV

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 15:15 (Solarserver)

El Salvador's National Energy Council (CNE) is holding a bidding process for 60 MW of utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) plants and 40 MW of wind plants, with a minimum capacity of 5 MW. CNE has already published bid documents, and will accept bids from November 27th, 2013 through February 7th, 2014. Read more

UK to send solar trade delegation to Saudi Arabia

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 14:57 (PV-Tech)

Energy and climate change minister, Greg Barker, told the Solar Energy UK event that Britain planned to actively pursue business in solar energy development in Saudi Arabia. Read more

SEUK: UK to send solar trade delegation to Saudi Arabia

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 14:02 (Solarpowerportal)

Energy and climate change minister, Greg Barker, addressed Solar Energy UK today and revealed plans for the UK to invest in solar energy development in Saudi Arabia. Read more

SEUK: Barker threatens government action against ‘inappropriate’ PV development

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 13:57 (Solarpowerportal)

Energy minister Greg Barker has launched a ‘roadmap’ towards publication of the UK’s first solar strategy, reaffirming his commitment towards a target of 20GW of PV by 2020 but threatening government action against insensitive development.   Read more

SEUK: Solar Trade Association debuts solar farm documentary at Solar Energy UK

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 13:21 (Solarpowerportal)

The Solar Trade Association (STA) will debut two new documentaries about solar farms at Solar Energy UK. Read more

Californian Governor signs key solar legislation

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 12:57 (PV-Tech)

Californian Governor Jerry Brown has signed a key piece of legislation that will provide residential solar users with added certainty. Read more

SEUK: Natural Sparx to launch new PV Kit Builder at Solar Energy UK

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 12:41 (Solarpowerportal)

Natural Sparx (powered by Rexel Energy Solutions Ltd.) will be launching a brand new PV Kit Builder feature on its website at Solar Energy UK. Read more

Mercom Capital: Total solar funding hit US$2.18 billion in Q3 2013

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 12:27 (PV-Tech)

Mercom Capital has published its Q3 2013 Solar Funding and M&A Report, in which the clean energy communications and consultancy firm claims that total corporate funding, global venture capital funding and solar mergers and acquisitions activities all showed increases from the previous quarter. Read more

Neo Solar Power records 156.2% revenue growth for September

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 11:36 (PV-Tech)

Taiwanese cell manufacturer Neo Solar Power (NSP) has recorded a 156.2% year-on-year revenue growth for September following its merger with DelSolar. Read more

UPDATE: India Invites 750 MW of National Solar Bids After 2-Year Gap

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 11:20 (Renewable Energy World)

India called for bids to build 750 megawatts of solar plants in its first national auction since 2011 and is offering about 18.75 billion rupees ($303 million) in grants. Read more

SEUK: LG Electronics displaying bi-facial ‘Mono X’ ‘NeoN module’ at Solar Energy UK

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 11:10 (Solarpowerportal)

One of the most innovative PV modules currently on the market will be present on LG Electronics booth at Solar Energy UK in Birmingham this week. Read more

IREC issues report to proposing standardized method for valuing distributed solar PV generation

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 10:18 (Solarserver)

Citing an “acute need” for standardization, the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC, Latham, New York, U.S.) has proposed a new standard valuation method to determine the benefits and costs of distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) generation. IREC notes multiple proposals have been made for the repeal of net metering policies in the United States in 2013, which it says comes from the claim that participating PV system owners are not paying their fair share. The organization states that only a thorough cost and benefit analysis can determine whether that claim is valid in a given utility service area, and notes that PV system owners may actually be subsidizing utilities Read more

Chinese PV producer Upsolar presents clean energy solutions for marina environments

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 10:08 (Solarserver)

Upsolar (Shanghai, China) on October 3rd unveiled a renewable energy solution for marina environments, combining equipment storage and protection with on-site photovoltaic (PV) power generation at the 53rd International Boat Show in Genoa, Italy, Developed in partnership with Energie Innovative (Lanciano, Italy) and optimized by SolarEdge (Hod Hasharon, Israel) to enhance energy production, the modular systems are available with solar photovoltaic (PV), solar thermal and wind generation capabilities. Read more

Berkeley Lab: U.S. Utility-scale solar PV prices falling sharply

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 8:50 (Solarserver)

The U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, California, U.S.) has released a report looking at project cost, performance and pricing trends for U.S. utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) plants. “Utility-scale Solar 2012” finds that power purchase agreement (PPA) prices for utility-scale PV have fallen USD 0.025/kWh annually, with levelized PPA prices in the Western U.S. falling to USD 0.05-0.06/kWh in 2013. It also finds that PV systems with single-axis tracking systems are able to achieve capacity factors better than 30% in some locations. Read more

Germany's DLR expands solar CSP courses through enerMENA program

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 8:39 (Solarserver)

The German Aerospace Center (DLR) has produced 55 videos to serve as capacity building courses for concentrating solar power (CSP) specialists in nations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. These videos focus on the fundamentals of CSP project planning, construction and maintenance, as well as the optimization of CSP plants. They cover a spectrum of issues, including fundamentals of line and point focusing technologies, solar resources assessment and project planning and yield analysis. Read more

Canadian Solar launches financing programme for US residential market

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 8:00 (PV-Tech)

Canadian Solar has targeted the US residential solar power market by launching the Canadian Solar Residential Financing Program, in partnership with Admirals Bank, a Boston, Massachusetts-based financial institution. Read more

German wind and solar produced as much 60% on 3 October

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 7:44 (PV-Tech)

Wind and solar produced as much as 60% of Germany’s electricity during the 3 October, according to an energy consultant. Read more

NRC announces energy storage program to integrate solar PV and wind power into Canada's electricity grid

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 9:58 (Solarserver)

The National Research Council of Canada (NRC, Montréal, QC) on October 7th, 2013 announced its Energy Storage for Grid Security and Modernization research program at the Renewable Energy Storage Summit. Canada can accelerate the integration of renewable energy sources like wind and technologies like solar photovoltaics (PV) into its electricity infrastructure by overcoming technical and cost barriers to grid-scale energy storage, NRC emphasizes. Read more

Enel Green Power connects 6.5MW PV plant in Romania

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 17:12 (PV-Tech)

Enel Green Power has connected the Colibasi 6.5MW PV plant to the grid in Giurgiu county, south eastern Romania, following on from the connection of the company’s first two PV power plants in the country in July. Read more

New York ISO Mulls Market Relief for New Renewable Energy Generation

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 16:43 (Renewable Energy World)

The New York Independent Service Operator (NYISO) claims it would "support in principle" future exemptions for renewable energy generation in buyer-side mitigation efforts to control new energy generation. It's an example of how renewable energy is paying closer attention to wholesale power markets in several key states. Read more

8 Practical Local Energy Policies to Boost the Economy

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 16:27 (Renewable Energy World)

The economy has stalled and so has the war on climate change. But a new report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance shows that dozens of cities are boosting their local economies while dramatically reducing greenhouse gases. City Power Play: 8 Practical Local Energy Policies to Boost the Economy illustrates how Chattanooga, TN, is adding over Read more

U.S. Tidal Energy Project Could Be Derailed By Lack of Proximity Standard

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 16:18 (Renewable Energy World)

A planned tidal energy project off the coast of Washington state in the US has come under fire over the lack of a standard defining how close such projects can be to existing underwater cables. Read more

SRECs: Boom and Bust in the New Jersey Market

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 16:17 (Renewable Energy World)

Thousands of New Jersey businesses, homeowners, and municipalities have incorporated clean, renewable energy into their lives. And why wouldn’t they? Renewable energy helps protect the environment, reduces dependence on fossil fuels, and helps lower our carbon footprint. Read more

Enel Green Power connects 6.5 MW PV plant in Romania to the grid

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 15:42 (Solarserver)

Enel Green Power (Rome, Italy) has connected the “Colibasi” solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant in Giurgiu County, south-eastern Romania, to the grid. With a total installed generation capacity of 6.5 MW, the PV plant will be able to generate up to about 8 million kWh of solar power each year, Enel announced. Read more

SEUK: Lightsource Renewable Energy announces new operations and maintenance division

Tuesday, 10.8.2013 - 14:35 (Solarpowerportal)

Lightsource Renewable Energy, the UK’s largest solar developer, has announced the formation of a new operations and maintenance (O&M) arm. Read more