Spire Corporation’s revenue inches higher again

Wednesday, 11.20.2013 - 17:08 (PV-Tech)

Still waiting for an upturn in solar module equipment orders, Spire Corporation reported third quarter revenue of US$4.2 million, slightly up from US$3.6 million reported in the second-quarter and up from US$2.6 million in the first quarter of 2013. Read more

Spectrolab sets new world record for solar cell efficiency

Wednesday, 11.20.2013 - 12:38 (PV-Tech)

Spectrolab has set a new solar cell efficiency world record for a non-concentrated solar cell of 38.8% and in doing so has beaten the company’s own previous record of 37.8%, set in April. Read more

Solar Fee Defeated in Georgia Power Rate Case

Wednesday, 11.20.2013 - 17:17 (Renewable Energy World)

Georgia's solar energy businesses and consumers won an important victory yesterday with the state’s largest utility, Georgia Power, dropping a proposed solar customer charge after experiencing overwhelming Commission and staff disapproval. Read more

The First Solar Energy Top Ten List of Things to Remember as We Exit 2013

Wednesday, 11.20.2013 - 15:33 (Renewable Energy World)

Starting in late December and continuing through Q1 2014, top ten lists will begin popping up — top ten manufacturers, top ten markets, top ten this, top ten that, top ten mistakes not to make ever again, top ten success stories to be emulated until we all want to scream, top ten losers, top ten winners, top ten conferences. In sum, there is a top ten list for pretty much everything that happened in 2013 as well as a few for the top ten things to expect in 2014. Thusly, here is the first (or just one of many) top ten list of things to remember in solar as we begin to exit 2013: Read more

Spectrolab sets new solar PV cell efficiency world record of 38.8% without concentration

Wednesday, 11.20.2013 - 15:29 (Solarserver)

Spectrolab Inc. (Sylmar, California, U.S.) has produced a solar photovoltaic (PV) cell with a conversion efficiency of 38.8% without concentration of light. This efficiency has been verified by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL, Golden, Colorado, U.S.). This is a new world record, and beats Spectrolab's previous record by 1%. The multijunction PV cell was developed using new bonding technology from Spectrolab's parent company Boeing (Chicago). Read more

Qatar to use water reservoir rooftops for solar

Wednesday, 11.20.2013 - 15:20 (PV-Tech)

Qatar will use the roofs of water reservoirs for solar energy generation Ahmed Nasser al-Nasser, technical affairs director of Kahramaa, Qatar’s general glectricity and water corporation told the Solar Qatar Summit on Monday. Read more

Solar revenues fall 73% at 3W/AEG Power as company issues warning

Wednesday, 11.20.2013 - 14:52 (PV-Tech)

Power electronics specialist 3W/AEG Power has reported Q3 revenues from its solar division 73% lower than the same period last year. Read more

SunEdison closes on financing from OPIC, IFC for 50.7 MW merchant solar PV project in Chile

Wednesday, 11.20.2013 - 14:36 (Solarserver)

SunEdison Inc. (St. Peters, Missouri, U.S.) has closed on a USD 100 million financing arrangement with the U.S. government's Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) to support a 50.7 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project in Chile. Read more

Trina Solar expects 30% of revenue from downstream project business

Wednesday, 11.20.2013 - 14:15 (PV-Tech)

Trina Solar, one of the last major tier one module manufacturers to embrace the downstream project business model, is planning to have 30% of annual revenue attributed to PV power plant projects in the next three years. Read more

Upsolar becomes first company to offer rooftop leasing in France

Wednesday, 11.20.2013 - 14:02 (PV-Tech)

PV module supplier Upsolar today launched a rooftop leasing programme for French homeowners. Read more

ET solar to supply 21MW North Carolina project

Wednesday, 11.20.2013 - 13:54 (PV-Tech)

Solar manufacturer, ET Solar, is supplying modules to a 21MW solar project in North Carolina. Read more

Mercom predicts solar trade disputes in India but a better 2014

Wednesday, 11.20.2013 - 10:43 (PV-Tech)

Clean energy consultancy, Mercom Capital Group, has predicted that domestic content requirements in the next phase of India’s national solar programme could lead to trade disputes. Read more

Spain gets 4.7% of its electricity from solar PV, CSP in October 2013

Wednesday, 11.20.2013 - 10:15 (Solarserver)

During October 2013, Solar photovoltaics (PV) represented 3.1% of electricity generation in Spain, with concentrating solar power (CSP) representing another 1.6%, according to figures released by the nation's grid operator REE. The combined 4.7% from solar is a gain of 0.4% from October 2012, when PV and CSP met 4.3% of demand. When biomass, hydroelectricity and wind are added, renewables represented 35% of generation during October 2013. Read more

NPD Solarbuzz: Polysilicon, wafer prices to fall below USD 0.20 per watt

Wednesday, 11.20.2013 - 7:08 (Solarserver)

NPD Solarbuzz Inc. (Santa Clara, California, U.S.) forecasts that average wafer production costs for integrated polysilicon and wafer makers will fall another 6% in 2014 to under USD 0.20 per watt. The company notes that this is due to cost reduction for in both the polysilicon and wafer portions of production. NPD Solarbuzz reports that leading polysilicon producers have suggested that they can reduce Siemens process polysilicon production to less than USD 14 per kilogram (kg) in the near future, and FBR costs to less than USD 10 per kg within a few years. Read more

No solar PV, CSP projects awarded in Brazilian renewable energy auction

Wednesday, 11.20.2013 - 7:03 (Solarserver)

39 wind projects totaling 868 MW were awarded in Brazil's A-3 renewable energy auction on November 18th, 2013, but not a single solar project. This is despite a large number of solar submissions. Developers had registered 2.73 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects and 290 MW of concentrating solar power (CSP) projects for participation in the auction. As the decision appears to have been made on price alone none of these projects were selected, however, EPE has suggested that solar projects may do better in future auctions. Read more

SMA to supply inverters, O&M services for 100 MW solar PV project in Ontario

Wednesday, 11.20.2013 - 6:55 (Solarserver)

SMA Solar Technology AG (Niestetal, Germany) has announced that its Canadian subsidiary has been chosen to supply inverters and operations and maintenance (O&M) services for a 100 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project in Canada. The PV project is the solar portion of the Grand Renewable Energy Project, a PV and wind development on First Nations land near Lake Erie in Ontario, Canada. SMA will supply 130 Sunny Central 800CP-US inverters for the project. Read more

Roll Call: EPC Firms Clamoring to Get Into Utility-scale Solar PV

Wednesday, 11.20.2013 - 5:23 (Renewable Energy World)

Countries around the world continue to hungrily develop, pursue, and approve utility-scale solar PV projects, defined as upwards of 10 MWp in size (DC capacity). In its latest rankings released this week, Wiki-Solar says utility-scale installations in 2013 already have exceeded 6 GWp (a record) and are on track to top 8 GWp by year's end, up from 5.6 GWp in 2012 and 3.6 GWp in 2011. That's a market value of "well over $10 billion," says Wiki-Solar founder Philip Wolfe. Read more

An Open Letter to the Arizona Public Service Company

Wednesday, 11.20.2013 - 17:37 (Renewable Energy World)

Dear Chairman and Commissioners: We missed it on this one — not because a fee was implemented or because that fee was too high or too low. We missed it because we didn’t do enough to uncover the true effects, both positive and/or negative, of distributed rooftop solar. APS initiated this process with one fundamental goal in mind: to set a precedent Read more

NSC planning roadshows kicks off in York

Wednesday, 11.20.2013 - 19:37 (Solarpowerportal)

The first of six planning roadshows hosted by the National Solar Centre and supported by the Department of Energy and Climate Change took place in York today. Read more

Over 300,000 energy efficiency measures installed under at-risk ECO scheme

Wednesday, 11.20.2013 - 12:52 (Solarpowerportal)

Energy efficiency measures installed under the Energy Companies Obligation (ECO) have topped 300,000, according to statistics published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Read more

Spanish renewable energy sector denounces fast-tracking of energy reform law

Wednesday, 11.20.2013 - 10:12 (Solarserver)

Four Spanish renewable energy organizations are protesting the speed at which the nation is processing its energy reform legislation, which they say does not allow time to debate the many amendments. The National Association of Photovoltaic Energy Producers (ANPIER), the Association of Renewable Energy Producers (APPA), ProtermoSolar, and the Spanish Photovoltaic Union (UNEF) have called on the President of the Congress to allow time for the law to be debated article by article, given its importance. Read more