IEA: Feed-in Tariff Not a Subsidy, But Tax Credits Are

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 16:02 (Renewable Energy World)

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has declared that feed-in tariffs are the principal driving force in the worldwide development of solar photovoltaics (solar PV). While possibly stating the obvious, it’s always good to see official confirmation of one’s own observations. Read more

Sharp’s first half figures show 80% leap in sales

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 13:39 (PV-Tech)

Japanese electronics manufacturer Sharp has seen sales of its solar cells increase by over 80% in the first half of this financial year compared to the same period in 2012. Read more

Adopt a kilowatt: PV crowd-funding arrived in Italy

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 13:28 (Solarserver)

“Adopt one kilowatt” is an unprecedented group purchase of a solar photovoltaic (PV) system in Italy, to produce 24,000 kWh of solar power per year, started by the non-for-profit organization Solare Collettivo (Racconigi, Italy). Read more

Chint Power Systems PV inverters selected to power ten schools in New Jersey

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 13:14 (Solarserver)

Chint Power Systems (CPS, Shangai, China) U.S. subsidiary on October 29th, 2013, announced that it will provide over 300 20kW inverters for solar photovoltaic (PV) installations across New Jersey for a 7MW project. The projects include a variety of applications, like string inverter architecture. A single inverter design can address rooftop, carport and ground mount applications of varying overall kW capacities, the company affirms. Read more

PV Taiwan 2013: PV manufacturers cautiously adding capacity

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 0:05 (PV-Tech)

A common theme at PV Taiwan 2013, being held in Taipei this week has been a series of solar cell and module manufacturers cautiously planning incremental production capacity expansions as the global PV market demand continues to expand. Read more

China Solar executive bailed as fraud investigation continues

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 17:53 (PV-Tech)

China Solar Energy Holdings has released a statement confirming one of the executives facing fraud allegations has been bailed. Read more

Arizona regulator demands information on ‘troubling’ campaigns against net metering

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 17:25 (PV-Tech)

The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) is demanding information from organisations including utility Arizona Public Service (APS) on the possible use of ratepayer funds in controversial public relations campaigns against solar power and net metering. Read more

Honda to shut solar subsidiary in 2014

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 17:14 (PV-Tech)

Honda has announced it will close its thin-film manufacturing subsidiary Honda Soltec spring 2014. Read more

Canadian Solar secures 100MW order from Three Gorges New Energy

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 16:45 (PV-Tech)

Module manufacturer Canadian Solar has secured a 100MW order from China Three Gorges New Energy. Read more

Sharp quarterly solar revenues remain strong at USD 850 million on Japanese demand

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 15:48 (Solarserver)

Sharp Corp. (Osaka, Japan) has published results for the quarter ending September 30th, 2013, reporting USD 850 billion in revenues and a 3.7% operating margin its Solar Cells division. While this represents relatively flat sales and a fall in margins from the previous quarter, over the previous six months the division's sales are 80% higher than a year prior, and it has returned to profitability. Read more

Hanwha Q Cells and Martifer Solar complete 17.8MW of PV in Portugal

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 14:42 (PV-Tech)

Portuguese PV provider, Martifer Solar, and German manufacturer, Hanwha Q cells, have completed a cluster of solar projects in Portugal totalling 17.8MW. Read more

SunPower begins commercial operations at 250 MW CVSR solar PV plant

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 14:41 (Solarserver)

SunPower Corp. (San Jose, California, U.S.) has begun commercial operations at the 250 MW-AC California Valley Solar Ranch (CVSR), one of the largest operational solar photovoltaic (PV) plants in California and the world. Read more

China extends EU polysilicon probe by six months

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 13:50 (Solarpowerportal)

China’s Ministry of Commerce has said it will extend a probe into imports of solar-grade polysilicon from Europe by six months. Read more

Apple files for solar power management system patent

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 13:45 (PV-Tech)

Technology giant, Apple has applied for the patent of a power management system to utilise portable solar panels, to the US patent and trademark office on Thursday. Read more

Germany announces 1.4% monthly solar FiT degression

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 13:37 (PV-Tech)

Germany has announced a monthly feed-in tariff degression rate of 1.4% Read more

North Carolina solar industry experts, local officials conclude guidance for PV projects

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 13:33 (Solarserver)

The North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association and the North Carolina Solar Center (Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.) on October 28th, 2013, hosted a final working group meeting that was part of a months-long process to guide the creation of a template ordinance for solar photovoltaic (PV) projects. The template ordinance addresses some of the most common considerations that arise in the permitting of solar PV facilities, to offer a path that could facilitate solar PV project development for companies and landowners. Read more

Solar PV in Romania: German EEPro and NewDev commission 4 MW project

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 13:23 (Solarserver)

The 4 MW PV power plant „Tartasesti“ has been commissioned close to the Romanian capital Bucharest. It is a joint venture project of EEPro GmbH (Simbach, Germany) and NewDev Projects GmbH & Co. KG (Hamburg, Germany). The project has also received the accreditation by the national regulatory body ANRE which grants the project an amount of six Green Certificates for each MWh fed into the grid on top of the energy trading price, NewDev reports in a press release. Read more

China extends EU polysilicon probe by six months

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 13:12 (PV-Tech)

China’s Ministry of Commerce has said it will extend a probe into imports of solar-grade polysilicon from Europe by six months. Read more

New Energy Technologies to unveil next generation SolarWindow generating power on see-through glass

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 13:08 (Solarserver)

New Energy Technologies, Inc. (Columbia, MD, USA) on October 29th, 2013, announced plans to unveil the company’s next generation SolarWindow working prototype within the upcoming calendar quarter. The announcement follows October’s 2013 successful USD 3 million financing by principal investor, Kalen Capital Corporation (Vancouver, BC, Canada), and news of company researchers achieving a two-fold increase in power conversion efficiency using New Energy’s novel spray applications, the company notes. Read more

Ecosun Expert and Voltec Solar inaugurate 2.5 MW solar park in Romania

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 13:03 (Solarserver)

On October 9th, 2013, project development company Ecosun Expert SAS (Vogelsheim, France) and its Romanian subsidiary Ecosun Expert Srl, together with the PV module manufacturer Voltec Solar SAS (Dinsheim sur Bruche, France) inaugurated a 2,5 MW ground mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) park in Romania. The PV plant had been connected to the electricity grid in Brasov at the end of August 2013, Voltec Solar reports in a press release. Read more

NRG and SunPower complete 250MW California Valley project

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 12:40 (PV-Tech)

NRG Energy and its affiliate NRG Yield have announced the completion of the 250MW California Valley Solar Ranch project, built by PV manufacturer SunPower. Read more

First Solar sales surge 51% year on year

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 12:32 (PV-Tech)

US thin-film giant First Solar has seen its third quarter sales surge 51% compared to the same period last year. Read more

Listen Up: Solar Energy Technology Innovations

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 10:18 (Renewable Energy World)

The first time I heard about Ultrasolar and pyroelectricity I checked the calendar to see if it was April 1st. Engineers and scientists are automatically skeptical of device efficiencies over 100 percent. But when I dug into their technology a bit more, I realized that they actually may be on to a practical way for an inverter to increase the output of a standard solar module. Read more

IHS warns against Saudi Arabia domestic content requirement in solar PV solicitation

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 6:50 (Solarserver)

IHS Inc. (Englewood, Colorado, U.S.) has released a new analysis which predicts that Saudi Arabia will install 1.48 GW of new solar photovoltaic (PV) systems through 2017, to become the second-largest PV market in the Middle East after Israel. However, the company warns that a preference for locally manufactured content in the nation's first PV solicitation in early 2014 could prevent the nation from capitalizing on PV module price reductions and attaining its goals. Saudi Arabia plans to procure 500 to 800 MW of renewable power generation capacity in this first solicitation. Read more

Canadian Solar receives USD 100 million from Deutsche Bank to build solar PV plants in Ontario

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 6:45 (Solarserver)

Deutsche Bank AG (Frankfurt, Germany) will provide Canadian Solar Inc. (Guelph, Canada) USD 100 million in non-recourse, short-term construction financing for the building of three solar photovoltaic (PV) plants totaling 30 MW-AC in the Canadian province of Ontario. Canadian Solar expects to complete construction and commission these three projects in 2014, and to repay these loans with proceeds from the sale of the plants. All three participate in the province's feed-in tariff program. Read more

Enel to build 314 MW of solar PV projects in South Africa

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 6:40 (Solarserver)

South Africa's Department of Energy (DoE) has awarded Enel Green Power SpA (Rome) four solar photovoltaic (PV) projects totaling 314 MW through the third round of the nation's Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme (REIPPP), as well as 199 MW of wind projects. This represents 70% of the 450 MW of PV projects awarded in the third round, however DoE has stated that it may award additional PV projects to bidders. Per the rules of the REIPP, Enel is partnering with South African organizations that hold a 60% stake in the projects. Read more

German citizens owned nearly half of installed solar PV in 2012

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 6:34 (Solarserver)

German citizens owned 48% of the nation's solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in 2012, or roughly 15 GW, according to a study by the University of Lüneburg (Germany) published by Germany's Renewable Energy Agency (AEE). This compares to only 3%, or roughly 1 GW held by utilities. For overall renewable energy including wind and biomass/biogas, citizens held 47%, or 34 GW, as compared to 9 GW (12%) held by utilities. Read more

US news reports hazardous thin-film waste at Abound Solar factory

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 1:01 (PV-Tech)

The Colorado manufacturing facility of Abound Solar, which went bankrupt, has been reported by US news outlets as having left toxic and hazardous waste behind that could cost as much as US$3.7 million to clean up. Read more

US Wind Power Slumps in 2013 After Tax Credit Drives 2012 Boom

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 15:16 (Renewable Energy World)

U.S. utilities agreed to buy 7.6 gigawatts of wind capacity this year through September, as construction in 2013 slowed to a trickle after a federal tax credit expired at the end of 2012, the American Wind Energy Association said. Read more

Trying Again: Proposing a National U.S. Renewable Energy Standard

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 18:56 (Renewable Energy World)

Two U.S. Senators are resurrecting legislation seeking to create a national Renewable Energy Standard (RES), while more proposed RPS changes crop up in some quieter markets. Read more

An Overview of US Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy Funding Programs

Friday, 11.1.2013 - 14:33 (Renewable Energy World)

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program was officially launched in 2009 as the result of the 2007 America COMPETES Act, which was signed by President George W. Bush. Congress appropriated and President Barack Obama allocated $400 million in 2009 to begin funding the agency’s first projects. ARPA-E exists within the broader organizational framework of the Department of Energy and was modeled after the very successful Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which has been credited with developing technological innovations such GPS (global positioning system), the stealth fighter jet and more. Read more