Heraeus to increase silver paste production capacity in Singapore

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 - 15:16 (Solarserver)

Heraeus (Hanau, Germany) has announced that its Photovoltaic Business Unit is increasing its capacity to produce silver paste for solar photovoltaic (PV) applications at its Singapore facility. Read more

Jinko Solar modules gain Japanese certification

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 - 13:55 (PV-Tech)

Module manufacturer, Jinko Solar, has announced its modules have gained Japan’s stringent JPEC certification. Read more

Hanergy to build thin-film PV factory in Brazil

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 - 9:56 (Solarserver)

Hanergy Group (Beijing) has agreed to build a thin-film solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing facility in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS), according to the state government. The plant in the Tecnosinos Technology Park in São Leopoldo, RS will be funded in part by the Gaúcho Program of Technology Parks and Incubators. The RS government says that it will now monitor the development of the business plan for the factory, with the intention of getting the project to move forward by April 2014. Read more

Concentrating photovoltaics: Emcore divests from solar CPV business with sale of Suncore share

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 - 9:51 (Solarserver)

Emcore Corp. (Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.) has sold its 40% share in the Suncore Photovoltaic (Xiamen, China) joint venture to LED chip maker San'an Optoelectronics (Jingzhou, China) for USD 4.8 million, according to a statement in the company's results for the quarter ending September 30th, 2013. San'an is now the sole owner of Suncore, which provides complete solutions for concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) projects, from design to installation and service including production CPV modules. Emcore had previously moved all of its CPV system engineering and development activities into Suncore, making the sale a move out of this space. Read more

Toshiba to introduce self-consumption PV offering for German apartment buildings

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 - 8:53 (Solarserver)

Toshiba Corp. (Tokyo) has announced that it will introduce a new “self-consumption” solar photovoltaic (PV) service offering for apartment buildings in Germany. The company will roll out the first systems on apartment buildings in the state of Baden-Württemberg in March 2014. Under the offering, one of Toshiba's European subsidiaries will install the company's PV systems on apartment buildings, which it will operate and manage. The PV plants will be owned by a group of pension funds, and will operate outside the nation's feed-in tariff system. Read more

Tool Order: Komax Solar gets two large orders for PV module equipment

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 - 19:46 (PV-Tech)

With PV manufacturers around the world running at high utilisation rates for the first time in two-years, back-end equipment specialist Komax Solar said it had received two large orders for PV module production equipment. Read more

EU provides €2.3 million in aid to former First Solar workers in Germany

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 - 17:27 (PV-Tech)

The German Government has successfully received aid to the tune of €2.3 million from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) to finance programmes to help support workers made redundant at two thin-film production plants closed by First Solar at the end of 2012. Read more

More Records for Quarterly US Solar Installations

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 - 15:00 (Renewable Energy World)

U.S. solar PV installations surged 20 percent to 930 MW in the July-September quarter compared with the previous three months, and the U.S. is poised to install more solar than Germany for the first time in more than 15 years, according to a just-released update from the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA) and GTM Research. Read more

Solar Frontier sets new CZTS solar PV efficiency record

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 - 14:51 (Solarserver)

Solar Frontier KK (Tokyo) has produced a copper zinc tin sulphur selenium (CZTSe) solar photovoltaic (PV) cell with an efficiency of 12.6%, as verified by Newport Corporation (Irvine, California, U.S.). The 0.42 square centimeter cell sets a new world record for CZTS technology, breaking Solar Frontier's previous record of 11.1%. Read more

SolarMax wins 61.4MW London solar farm contracts

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 - 13:57 (Solarpowerportal)

Swiss inverter manufacturer Sputnik Engineering has revealed that five solar farms set to be built in the London area will use its SolarMax range of inverters. Read more

EPIA: Time for utilities to embrace solar

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 - 13:29 (PV-Tech)

Utility companies should embrace solar energy rather than trying to block it, the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) has said. Read more

Solar programme to help Greggs slash its carbon footprint by a quarter by 2015

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 - 13:22 (Solarpowerportal)

The UK’s largest baker, Greggs, has praised the role that solar will play in helping the company meet its ambition of reducing its carbon footprint by 35% by 2015. Read more

Solar Frontier achieves 12.6% CZTS cell efficiency

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 - 12:22 (PV-Tech)

Thin-film module manufacturer Solar Frontier claims to have broken the world record for CZTS cell efficiency, reaching 12.6%. Read more

LDK Solar still struggling to pay interest on defaulted bond

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 - 11:57 (PV-Tech)

LDK Solar’s continued lack of finances for offshore business transactions has forced the struggling company to enter into a new 30-day forbearance arrangement with bondholders after being unable to pay interest on the loan. Read more

US solar industry enjoying ‘record-shattering year’ with 5GW installed

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 - 11:49 (PV-Tech)

The third quarter of this year was second only to the final quarter of last year for newly installed PV generating capacity in the US, according to a report from GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). Read more

Lawyers warn China’s solar trade cheats could land EU buyers in jail

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 - 11:08 (Solarpowerportal)

European companies buying products from Chinese manufacturers that flout new trade rules will face heavy penalties and even jail, a German law firm has warned. Read more

U.S. adds 930 MW of solar PV in Q3 2013

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 - 9:04 (Solarserver)

The U.S. solar photovoltaic (PV) market had its second-strongest quarter ever with 930 MW installed, according to a report released by GTM Research (Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.) and Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA, Washington D.C.). This represents a 35% increase from the third quarter of 2012 and a 20% increase from the second quarter of 2013. “U.S. Solar Market Insight: 3rd Quarter 2013” also finds that the U.S. residential market grew 49% year-over-year, which it credits to increasingly attractive economics and net metering policies. Read more

Feed-in tariff reduction for many German solar PV plants beginning on January 1st, 2014

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 - 8:59 (Solarserver)

As of January 1st, 2014, feed-in tariff payments for German solar photovoltaic (PV) plants from 10 kW to 1 MW in capacity and commissioned after April 1st, 2012 will cover only 90% of the electricity generated. This remaining 10% of the electricity can be used by the system owner or sold to third parties, with a last resort option to sell the power to the grid at EUR 0.042 (USD 0.057) per kWh. The change is part of “market integration” reforms applied to the feed-in tariff under the previous Christian Democrat/Free Democrat coalition government. Read more

Offshore Wind Turbine Vendors Unveil Next-Generation Wind Power Machines

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 - 15:05 (Renewable Energy World)

EWEA’s biannual offshore wind conference and exhibition took place between 19 – 21 November in Frankfurt, Germany. International exhibitors and visitors could be clearly subdivided into typical marine and wind-industry related and additional companies and organizations offering specific products and dedicated offshore wind services such as a supersize HVAC submarine cable and several new foundation solutions. Read more

Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2013: Lessons Learned

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 - 16:29 (Renewable Energy World)

As we come into the final stretch of 2013, my annual model portfolio of Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2013 looks certain to break its five year winning streak of beating its industry benchmark. As of December 6th, the model portfolio's total return has been 19.0 percent, compared to a sunny 56.1 percent for my benchmark, the Powershares Wilderhill Clean Energy (PBW). The broad market, as represented by the Russell 2000, also resoundingly beat my model portfolio, and is up 37.5 percent. My six alternative picks fared even worse than my top ten. Read more

Yingli launches ‘All Under One Sun’ 2014 football World Cup sponsorship campaign

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 - 14:04 (PV-Tech)

Yingli Green Energy (Yingli) has launched ‘All Under One Sun’, the company’s official sponsorship campaign for the 2014 football World Cup. Read more

‘Watershed’ Climate and Energy Agreement Between CenterPoint Energy and City of Minneapolis

Tuesday, 12.10.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

In a groundbreaking agreement announced earlier this year, the gas utility serving Minneapolis, MN – CenterPoint Energy – will work with the city of Minneapolis to achieve a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025.  The agreement, negotiated with the grassroots campaign Minneapolis Energy Options, secures the support of the gas utility fo Read more