Shunfeng’s main shareholder makes US$412 million payment for Suntech

Thursday, 12.19.2013 - 13:52 (PV-Tech)

Shunfeng Photovoltaic has announced that one of its largest shareholders has paid the RMB2.5 billion (US$412 million) balance for Suntech’s manufacturing arm. Read more

EC begins investigation into Germany's feed-in tariff surcharge exemptions

Thursday, 12.19.2013 - 9:13 (Solarserver)

The European Commission (EC) has opened an investigation into the exemptions for energy-intensive industries and suppliers of electricity from renewables in Germany's feed-in tariff, which it has decided constitutes a form of “state aid”. Specifically, the EC will look into the new structure of the feed-in tariff and its exemptions as amended in 2012 under the Christian Democrat/Free Democrat coalition government. The European Court of Justice had ruled that the previous system introduced in 1998 did not constitute state aid. Read more

GTM Research: Mexico to build 180 MW of solar PV in 2014

Thursday, 12.19.2013 - 17:32 (Solarserver)

GTM Research (Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.) has released a new report which predicts that the Mexico's installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity will quadruple to 240 MW in 2014, as the most attractive near-term market in Latin America. Read more

GTM: Mexico to build 180 MW of solar PV in 2014

Thursday, 12.19.2013 - 17:10 (Solarserver)

GTM Research (Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.) has released a new report which predicts that the Mexico's installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity will quadruple to 240 MW in 2014, as the most attractive near-term market in Latin America. Read more

IHS: Global solar PV market to reach 40-45 GW in 2014, with growth in energy storage, PV equipment spending

Thursday, 12.19.2013 - 15:47 (Solarserver)

IHS Inc. (Englewood, Colorado, U.S.) has published a forecast that the global solar photovoltaic (PV) market will increase by “double digits” to between 40-45 GW in 2014. The company also predicts that the market for energy storage to accompany PV will quadruple during the year, and that capital spending will return in the PV industry. Read more

Solar Frontier to build 150 MW CIS solar PV factory in Japan

Thursday, 12.19.2013 - 15:14 (Solarserver)

Solar Frontier KK (Tokyo) has unveiled plans to build a fourth factory to manufacture its copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS or CIS) thin-film solar photovoltaic (PV) modules in Miyagi Prefecture, in the Tohoku region of Japan. Read more

IHS issues 2014 predictions for the solar PV energy industry

Thursday, 12.19.2013 - 14:14 (PV-Tech)

Following on from recent projections for the PV industry, market research firm IHS has revealed key developments and issues for the sector in 2014. Read more

Soft Costs Reductions are Essential for Solar Industry

Thursday, 12.19.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

What needs to be done to accelerate adoption of solar in the U.S.? The price of solar cells is continuously dropping and financing mechanisms are put in place to create affordable solar. Yet despite the seemingly obvious fiscal choice to switch to solar, it still remains an exceedingly hard sell. Part of that is due to the soft costs, which inflate Read more

SEIA warns US tax reforms could harm solar

Thursday, 12.19.2013 - 13:34 (PV-Tech)

The Solar Energy Industries Association has warned that proposals to reform energy taxation in the US could damage the country’s solar industry. Read more

Mexico to quadruple solar growth in 2014: GTM

Thursday, 12.19.2013 - 13:34 (PV-Tech)

Market analyst, GTM Research, has predicted that Mexico will be Latin America’s most attractive PV market in 2014, despite an ever-growing solar pipeline in its nearest rival, Chile. Read more

EU publishes new draft guidelines for renewable aid for 2014-2020

Thursday, 12.19.2013 - 12:35 (Solarpowerportal)

The European Union has published new guidelines for renewable energy support that will determine how member states can support solar PV deployment. Read more

Solar Frontier plans new 150MW Japan module factory as ‘blueprint’ for overseas operations

Thursday, 12.19.2013 - 12:34 (PV-Tech)

Japanese thin-film PV manufacturer Solar Frontier is to build its fourth CIGS module assembly plant in Japan with a nameplate capacity of 150MW. Read more

Largest solar project in Texas completes first 41MW phase

Thursday, 12.19.2013 - 12:08 (PV-Tech)

The first 41MW of a 400MW project in Texas has been completed, according to the developer, OCI Solar. Read more

Trina Solar to supply modules for Jordan's largest solar PV plant

Thursday, 12.19.2013 - 9:05 (Solarserver)

Trina Solar Ltd. (Changzhou, China) has reached an agreement to supply 4,032 of its Honey series solar photovoltaic (PV) modules to Mustakbal Clean Tech (Amman, Jordan) and Phoenix Solar AG (Sulzemoos, Germany) for a 1 MW PV plant in Jordan. This will be the largest PV plant in Jordan as well as the first utility-scale PV plant in the nation. Trina plans to begin shipments before the end of 2013, with project completion scheduled for the second quarter of 2014. Read more

SolarCity launches non-profit foundation to provide solar-powered lighting to schools

Thursday, 12.19.2013 - 8:53 (Solarserver)

SolarCity Corp. (San Mateo, California, U.S.) has launched a non-profit foundation to provide solar-powered lighting to schools without electricity, with initial recipients expected to be in Haiti, Mali, Malawi and Nepal. For every MW of residential solar photovoltaics (PV) that SolarCity installs in 2014, the Give Power Foundation will donate one PV system and battery combination to a school. The company estimates that 291 million children attend primary schools that lack electricity, part of the 1.4 billion globally who do not have access to power. Read more

US Invalidates 33.5 Million Renewable Fuel Credits After Fraud

Thursday, 12.19.2013 - 16:26 (Renewable Energy World)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it has invalidated 33.5 million renewable-fuel credits sold by an Indiana company for biofuel it didn’t produce, the fourth time the agency has alleged fraud in the program. Read more

Subsea Cables Bring Offshore Wind Power to the People

Thursday, 12.19.2013 - 15:30 (Renewable Energy World)

It might be surprising to learn that Norway’s tallest building is Nexans’ 120-metre extrusion tower at the company’s submarine high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable factory in Halden. Nexans makes subsea cables that connect offshore wind farms to the grid, transports them around the world and installs them underwater so that the cables can bring clean power from offshore wind farms to onshore substations and from there to our homes. Read more

Hydrogen Stocks More than Double In 2013: Why the Pros Missed the Ride

Thursday, 12.19.2013 - 17:25 (Renewable Energy World)

If you hadn’t noticed that hydrogen stocks are up an average of 131 percent so far this year, you’re not alone. Both hydrogen fuel cell stocks and hydrogen fuel systems stocks are up strongly. Read more

Renewable Energy Black Eyes Are Contagious and Avoidable

Thursday, 12.19.2013 - 17:47 (Renewable Energy World)

The margin for error is slim when an industry is relatively new. It's susceptible to strict scrutiny and heightened consumer and stakeholder expectations. The renewable energy and energy efficiency industry illustrates a particularly challenging example, as the market presents not only new products and services, but a cultural and political shift t Read more

EU Probing German Green Tax Cuts, Merkel Rebuffs

Thursday, 12.19.2013 - 17:13 (Renewable Energy World)

The European Union will review German discounts on environmental taxes amid concerns the aid to companies that consume high volumes of energy may be illegal, but newly re-elected Chancellor Angela Merkel warned the measures are needed to keep Europe's biggest economy competitive. Read more

Government hints at auction shift in EMR delivery plan

Thursday, 12.19.2013 - 13:25 (Solarpowerportal)

The UK government has published its Electricity Market Reform (EMR) delivery plan after the Energy Bill received Royal Assent yesterday. Read more

California ISO publishes roadmap for advancing demand response, energy efficiency

Thursday, 12.19.2013 - 9:00 (Solarserver)

California's grid operator has published a roadmap to accelerate the adoption of demand response (DR) and energy efficiency (EE) resources, which it says will help to support the integration of more renewable energy while maintaining reliability. “Demand Response and Energy Efficiency Roadmap: Maximizing Preferred Resources” anticipates the magnitude, type, timing and geographic distribution of new, more flexible resources. It also presents a plan for lowering market barriers that are currently impeding the uptake of these resources. Read more