IHS: Enphase muscles into inverter top 10 as sector breaks US$7 billion mark

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 12:01 (PV-Tech)

The global PV inverter market broke through the US$7 billion level for the first time in 2012, according to market research firm IHS. Read more

SolarWorld to supply PV modules to Grundfos

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 23:26 (Solarserver)

On April 16th, 2013, SolarWorld AG (Bonn, Germany) announced that it has agreed to become world supplier of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels to Grundfos (Bjerringbro, Denmark), the pump industry’s largest, most innovative producer. Under the agreement, SolarWorld will provide solar panels for use with Grundfos' solar-powered submersible water pumps in countries on many continents. Read more

Californians unite against utilities stopping net metering

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 23:23 (Solarserver)

A coalition of public health leaders and solar energy companies has formed a new group, Californians Against Utilities Stopping Solar Energy (CAUSE), to combat monopoly utility efforts to end net energy metering (NEM), a policy in 43 states that gives consumers fair credit for the solar power they deliver to the grid. Read more

NextEra Chops Blythe Solar Project Proposal Amid Switch to Solar PV

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 17:58 (Renewable Energy World)

NextEra has submitted a revised proposal for its massive Blythe Solar Power Project in California, aiming to shrink the project by more than half from its initial 1,000-MW goal as it shifts the project to solar PV technology. Read more

Suntech Eyes Italy Solar Asset Sale, LDK Defaults

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 16:51 (Renewable Energy World)

A restructuring storm continues to blow through China’s battered solar sector, with word of a potential major asset sale by Suntech (NYSE: STP) and a debt default by LDK (NYSE: LDK). Of these 2 news bits, the Suntech one is easily the most interesting as it finally helps to make sense of reports last week that billionaire investor Warren Buffett mi Read more

Solar Shakeout: T-Solar dismisses 170 Spanish employees

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 14:30 (PV-Tech)

Thin film module manufacturer T-Solar has announced the dismissal of its employees at its factory in Ourense, northern Spain. Read more

Growing a Solar Park in California's Central Valley

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

An ambitious project to build one of the world's largest solar energy complexes on contaminated farmland in California's Central Valley has finally moved from the drawing board to the review process, but unlike with some other sizable solar energy ventures, there likely will be few objections to the site. Read more

Solar Industry Gathers to Fight CPS Energy's SunCredit Program

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

In San Antonio, Texas, city-owned utility CPS Energy released a new program called the SunCredit, which will charge solar customers for all of the electricity they used — including what they produced from their own solar array — then credit back the solar electricity generated at 5.6 cents/kWh. What this means to existing and future solar installation customers is that a system that might otherwise pay for itself within ten years will now take fifteen or more years — economics that will not work in today's solar installation market. Read more

First Solar and Yingli Green billed as suppliers to NextEra’s downsized Blythe solar farm

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 13:44 (PV-Tech)

NextEra Energy’s 1GW plans for the Blythe solar farm in California, once expected to be the world’s largest solar energy power plant, have been cut in half to make the project viable. Read more

World’s largest battery storage system to be installed in Japan

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 13:36 (PV-Tech)

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has announced plans to install what is said to be world’s largest battery at an electrical substation in the prefecture of Hokkaido, which has a high number of solar installations. Read more

Martifier Solar Hellas completes four Greece PV plants totallingMW

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 12:49 (PV-Tech)

Martifier Solar Hellas has brought online four PV solar parks with a combined capacity ofMW in the Preveza and Pirgos regions in Greece. Read more

LDK Solar sells Hefei subsidiary, will supply 63 MW of solar PV modules to Thai developer

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 12:41 (Solarserver)

LDK Solar Company Ltd. (Xinyu, China) has signed an agreement to supply 63 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules to EA Solar Nakornsawan Company Ltd. (Thailand). Under the agreement, LDK will ship 6.3 MW of PV modules per week, beginning in August 2013. The company has also signed an agreement to sell subsidiary LDK Solar High-Tech Company Ltd. (Hefei, China) to an affiliate of the Hefei city government for USD 20 million. Read more

PG&E continues to lead US utilities in new solar PV installed in 2012

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 12:39 (Solarserver)

The Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA, Washington DC, US) has released its annual ranking of which American utilities added the most solar electric capacity in 2012, both in an absolute and watt-per-customer basis. In terms of MW of new capacity, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E, San Francisco, California, US) led the pack for the fifth year, nearly tripling new solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity to 805 MW-AC. Also this year Progress Carolinas (Raleigh, North Carolina, US) came in eighth place with 70 MW-AC, a rare accomplishment for a utility from the US South. Read more

Solar power is ‘fastest growing industry in US’

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 12:38 (PV-Tech)

The US solar energy industry employs 119,016 Americans and grew 13.2% in 2011-2012, making it one of the fastest growing industries in the country, according to a new web-based mapping tool. Read more

Nigerian ‘Silicon Valley’ plan floated to drive domestic solar industry

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 12:24 (PV-Tech)

Nigeria’s science and technology minister has mooted plans for a national science park akin to America’s Silicon Valley to develop home-grown technologies including solar panels. Read more

Delaware sees dedication of 15MW solar farm

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 12:09 (PV-Tech)

Delaware’s governor Jack Markell joined the developers of what is said to be the US state’s largest solar farm in a ceremony to dedicate the 15MW plant earlier this week. Read more

Green Energy UK Direct plans 10MW solar park in Canterbury

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 11:54 (Solarpowerportal)

Manchester-based solar developer, Green Energy UK Direct Ltd, is investigating the suitability of a 10MW solar park in Canterbury, Kent. Read more

Meeco, BIJ and finergia ink MoU to boost Japanese PV market

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 11:33 (PV-Tech)

Swiss meeco Group has marked its expanding strategy in the Japanese solar market by signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Japanese PV manufacturer BIJ Corporation and an Italian broker and financial advisory finergia. Read more

Pew: Solar leads clean energy investments again in 2012, buoyed by third-party financing

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 8:18 (Solarserver)

Pew Charitable Trusts (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US) has released a new report which finds that solar technologies received USD 126 billion in investment in 2012, even as overall clean energy investment fell 11% to USD 269 billion. This is the second year in a row that solar has received more investment than any other renewable energy technology. “Who's Winning the Clean Energy Race? 2012 Edition” also emphasized the importance of innovative financing for the small-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) market. Read more

China Set to Approve 27.9 GW of Wind Power Projects

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

China's National Energy Administration recently announced the inclusion of 491 wind power projects with a combined installed capacity of 27.9 GW into its approval plan for the 12th five-year period spanning from 2011 to 2015. Read more

Pain in Spain: New Retroactive Changes Hinders Renewable Energy

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

In his Poetics, the Greek philosopher Aristotle draws a distinction between Tragedies and Epics: he states that while Tragedies are confined to one revolution of the sun (i.e. one year), Epics can be of unlimited duration. In light of the seemingly unending saga of cuts and retroactive changes that have plagued Spain's renewable electricity sector since the fall of 2008, it can now be said that the situation in Spain has evolved decisively from a Tragedy into an 'Epic.' Read more

IRS Confirms that Batteries Qualify for the Energy Tax Credit But Imposes Limitations

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

A recent IRS ruling confirms that batteries used to store solar electricity qualify for the 30% energy tax credit. At the same time, it imposes significant limits on the amount of the available credit if the battery also stores electricity drawn from the utility grid. Read more

Pain in Spain: New Retroactive Changes Hinder Renewable Energy

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

In his Poetics, the Greek philosopher Aristotle draws a distinction between Tragedies and Epics: he states that while Tragedies are confined to one revolution of the sun (i.e. one year), Epics can be of unlimited duration. In light of the seemingly unending saga of cuts and retroactive changes that have plagued Spain's renewable electricity sector since the fall of 2008, it can now be said that the situation in Spain has evolved decisively from a Tragedy into an 'Epic.' Read more

Who Killed $2.18 Gasoline?

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

The Bloomberg investigative team of Ben Elgin & Peter Waldman yesterday published an expose on Chevron trying to undercut California's low-carbon fuel standard. "They say they're pushing back against the California rule because it demands technology that may not be available for years," the team writes, as they detail the derailing of a technology that would have been available at commercial scale as soon as next year, according to the company's own internal documentation. Read more

Masdar PV’s micromorph thin-film modules used in 15MW Mauritanian power plant

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 13:06 (PV-Tech)

Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy firm Masdar has commissioned a US$31.99 million, 15MW PV power plant in the Mauritania, no Read more

India announces goal to double renewable energy to 55 GW by 2017 at 4th Clean Energy Ministerial

Friday, 4.19.2013 - 8:14 (Solarserver)

Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh announced that India will double its renewable energy capacity to 55 GW by 2017, at the opening of the Fourth Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) in New Delhi on April 17th, 2013. Dr. Singh also reiterated India's goal of installing 22 GW of on-grid and off-grid solar electric capacity by 2022 through the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. Delegates from 23 participating nations attended the conference, at which a new International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard for solar-powered light-emitting diode (LED) devices was unveiled. Read more