News of the year 2013

Date: 17.12.2013



Photovoltaics

Kyocera receives environment minister's award in Japan for 4th consecutive year

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 15:33 (Solarserver)

Kyocera Corporation (Kyoto, Japan) announced that the company’s Kagoshima Sendai manufacturing plant (Kagoshima Prefecture) has received the 2013 Environment Minister’s Award for Global Warming Prevention Activity (implementation of countermeasures / dissemination category) in recognition of its environmental protection activities. Read more

pvXchange: PV prices declines stabilized in 2013, despite a difficult year

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 8:49 (Solarserver)

Prices for solar photovoltaic (PV) modules generally stabilized over the course of 2013, with rising prices on Chinese products and falling prices on European and Japanese products, according to a new analysis by pvXchange GmbH (Cologne, Germany). PvXchange's Martin Schachinger notes that prices for Chinese and Southeast Asian PV modules are currently only 18–25% below prices for European and Japanese PV, whereas in January 2013 Chinese PV modules were 36% cheaper than Japanese. PvXchange also notes that this was a very difficult year for European PV makers. Read more

Wuxi Suntech to provide insurance for customers

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 8:38 (Solarserver)

Wuxi Suntech Co. Ltd. (Wuxi, China) has signed an agreement with Solar Insurance and Finance (Solarif, Arnhem, The Netherlands) to provide solar insurance for Wuxi Suntech customers, which has already become available. Solarif reports that its team undertook a rigorous inspection of Wuxi Suntech's factories, production processes and materials, and that the company achieved its certification. Read more


Thermal Power/Heating

California recommends approval of Blythe solar PV project, denial of Palen solar CSP project

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 20:05 (Solarserver)

The California Energy Commission (CEC) has released proposed decisions on conversion plans for both the 485 MW Blythe solar photovoltaic (PV) project and the 500 MW Palen concentrating solar power (CSP) project. The agency recommends approval of the most recent plans for the Blythe PV project. Read more

U.S. Senators petition leadership to extend key tax credits for solar and wind

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 16:02 (Solarserver)

A group of 24 U.S. Senators has written to the leaders of the Senate Committee on Finance calling for the extension of tax credits that support the deployment of renewable energy, energy efficiency and advanced manufacturing. This includes the Section 48 Investment Tax Credit (ITC), which provides a 30% tax break for the deployment of solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal and other technologies. Read more

ET Solar announces establishment of Latin American regional office in Santiago, Chile

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 15:34 (Solarserver)

ET Solar Group Corp. (Nanjing, China) on December 16th, 2013 announced the opening of its regional sales and business development office in Santiago, Chile, to provide enhanced sales, technical and commercial supports to customers in Latin America. Having commenced business development a few years ago in Latin America, ET Solar has cemented cooperative partnerships with various local solar photovoltaic (PV) players, preparing itself for further inroads into the burgeoning market, the company notes. Read more

Fast-growing middle-class PV market: SolarCity opens new South Jersey operations center

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 15:33 (Solarserver)

SolarCity Corp. (San Mateo, California, U.S.) on December 16th, 2013 announced a new, 8,000-square-foot operations center in Blackwood, New Jersey. The expansion coincides with middle-class New Jersey homeowners becoming one of the hottest residential solar photovoltaic (PV) demographics in the nation, according to a recent Center for American Progress report. Read more

California Energy Commission Splits on Blythe and Palen Solar Projects

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 15:24 (Renewable Energy World)

Two separate California Energy Commission siting committees have released Presiding Member’s Proposed Decisions (PMPD) on amendments to solar projects in Riverside County, the commission said in a Dec. 16 statement. Read more

Solar Frontier forms EPC alliance with Belectric, Shoseki Engineering & Construction

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 14:57 (Solarserver)

Solar Frontier KK (Tokyo) has formed an alliance with Belectric Holding GmbH (Mainz, Germany) and Shoseki Engineering and Construction (SEC, Tokyo) to offer engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in Japan. Read more

Asia Report: Three Ways to Ensure India's Bright Solar Future

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 14:47 (Renewable Energy World)

India's solar energy installed capacity has swelled from practically nothing to more than 2 GW in the three years since the creation of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission Phase 1 (JNNSM). Impressively, costs have come down rapidly (to roughly $0.12/kWh for solar PV, and $0.21/kWh for CSP) to be competitive with grid-connected solar PV in many other regions. Read more

Hanergy achieves 19.6% solar PV cell efficiency with CIGS technology, rolls out new thin film products

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 14:25 (Solarserver)

Solibro GmbH (Thalheim, Germany) has produced a copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin film solar photovoltaic (PV) cell with a 19.6% conversion efficiency, according to parent company Hanergy Solar (Hong Kong). This beats Solibro's previous record of 18.7%. Hanergy states that this efficiency, achieved on a 0.5 square centimeter cell under laboratory conditions, has been confirmed by the Fraunhofer Institute. Read more

Array Technologies fits 7.4MW tracking system to Connecticut solar park

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 14:19 (PV-Tech)

Array Technologies fitted a 7.4MW tracking system to a PV project in Connecticut, US, which is expected to go online during this quarter of 2013, the company has announced. Read more

Martifer Solar completes 3.5MW rooftop project in Brussels

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 13:43 (PV-Tech)

Subsidiary of industrial group Martifer, Martifer Solar has completed a 3.5MW rooftop installation in Brussels. Read more

Distributed Solar May Grow to 2 Gigawatts in Northeast US by 2021

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 12:38 (Renewable Energy World)

Earlier this week the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) released the Northeastern portion of the 6th annual Renewable Energy in the 50 States report. The report focuses on the state of the renewable energy industry across the U.S. and is released in four stages. The most recent release finds that some of fastest growing states for renewa Read more

Belectric and Solar Frontier EPC alliance to target Japan ‘mega’ solar

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 12:25 (PV-Tech)

Two of Germany and Japan’s biggest solar companies, Belectric and Solar Frontier, are to form an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) alliance with Shoseki Engineering & Construction (SEC) focusing on Japan’s ‘mega’ solar market. Read more

Construction begins on UK’s largest solar farm

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 12:11 (Solarpowerportal)

Construction has begun on the UK’s largest solar farm, a 41MW installation in West Didcot, Oxfordshire. Read more

PV Cycle prepared for introduction of WEEE regulations in the new year

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 11:11 (Solarpowerportal)

New regulations which determine what happens to old solar PV modules after their working life in the UK will come into effect in the new year. Read more


Biomass/Pellets

There are no news available

 



Wind Energy

US Shifts Offshore Wind Gaze to Maryland

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 21:20 (Renewable Energy World)

Another step forward for U.S. offshore wind energy today, with the Interior Department (DOI) and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announcing their third auction for offshore wind project: this one in Maryland, spanning roughly 80,000 acres about 10-30 miles offshore from Ocean City, with the potential of 850 to 1,450 MW of wind power capacity, according to NREL estimates. Read more


Hydropower

There are no news available

 



Hydrogen/Fuel Cell

There are no news available

 



Geo Thermal/Heat Pump

There are no news available

 



Energy Policy/Climate/CO2

Renewable Energy Systems Canada selects Unirac to supply PV mounting systems for a 20 MW project in Ontario

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 15:34 (Solarserver)

Unirac, Inc.(Albuquerque, N.M.) has been selected by Renewable Energy Systems Canada Inc. to provide two 10 megawatt (MW) ground mount steel (GMS) racking systems for solar PV projects located in Ontario, Canada. The PV projects will be executed in two phases, which started in fall of 2013, with final completion scheduled in 2014. The PV projects will provide solar electricity to power the equivalent of 4,000 homes annually. Read more

24 US senators call for key renewable energy tax incentives to be extended

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 14:22 (PV-Tech)

Key renewable energy tax incentives in the US must be extended, a group of 24 US senators has said. Read more

Puerto Rico introduces mandate for energy storage in new renewable projects

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 13:33 (PV-Tech)

Government-owned Puerto Rican electric power company Autoridad de Energia Electrica (AEE) has made it mandatory for developers of renewable energy projects to incorporate energy storage into new installations. Read more

Renewables To Account for All New Power in Australia through 2020, Says AEMO

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 13:02 (Renewable Energy World)

A new report from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) forecasts 100 percent of new power in Australia will be generated from renewable energy sources through 2020. Read more

California rejects another Brightsource CSP project

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 12:48 (PV-Tech)

The California Energy Commission has blocked the construction of Brightsource’s 500MW Palen project. Read more

Innovating Dirt-cheap: What Sadoway Can Teach Us about the Future of Clean Energy

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 11:40 (Renewable Energy World)

When it comes to alternate power sources and batteries, Donald R. Sadoway, John F. Elliott Professor of Materials Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is the man to turn to. Voted one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world in 2012, Sadoway is not only known for his packed classes, despite being one of the largest in the history of the institute, but for the pieces of wisdom he imparts when simply speaking about batteries. Here are a few of my favorite Sadoway quotes and what I believe they can teach us about the future of clean energy. Read more

French government to look at support systems for renewable energy

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 8:42 (Solarserver)

French Minister of Ecology, Energy and Sustainable Development Philippe Martin has launched a consultation on potential means to support the growth of renewable energy in the nation. France has set a goal to meet 23% of primary energy demand with renewable energy by 2020. The purpose of the consultation will be to develop methods to support the long-term development of renewables and improve their integration in the power system, while ensuring the effectiveness of collective investments. Read more

German SPD Leader Gabriel heading a super-ministry to oversee Energy Transition

Tuesday, 12.17.2013 - 8:34 (Solarserver)

Germany's new SPD/CDU coalition government has appointed ministers to key posts, including a new super-ministry of economics and energy, to be headed by SPD Leader Sigmar Gabriel. This is a combination of two previously separate ministries. As such, Gabriel will be in charge of overseeing the nation's system of feed-in tariffs and its Energy Transition. Additionally, a number of other SPD ministers have been appointed in key positions, and the party has ratified the SPD/CDU coalition agreement with 76% in favor. Read more


Solar-/Electromobil

There are no news available

 



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