juwi takes over management of PV plants Finsterwalde II, III

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 21:29 (Solarserver)

On April 2nd, 2013 juwi AG (Wörrstadt, Germany) announced that it has received an operations and maintenance (O&M) contract for the Finsterwalde II, III solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants in Brandenburg. The two solar parks have a total capacity of around 40 megawatts (MW) and supply more than 10,000 households with solar power annually. Read more

Kyocera names Goro Yamaguchi new president

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 20:45 (Solarserver)

On April 1st, 2013, Kyocera Corp. (Kyoto, Japan) announced that it has appointed Goro Yamaguchi as president, representative director and executive officer. Yamaguchi, former director and managing executive officer, succeeds Tetsuo Kuba, who will become chairman of the board and representative director, effective immediately. Read more

Giriraj Enterprises commissions 33MW of PV projects in Rajasthan

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 12:12 (PV-Tech)

India-based Giriraj Enterprises, a state-owned tobacco trader, has commissioned three PV projects with a combined capacity of 33MW in Rajasthan, India. Read more

Walgreens, SolarCity to build solar PV plants on 22 stores in Colorado

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 21:25 (Solarserver)

On April 1st, 2013, Walgreens announced that it will build solar photovoltaic (PV) systems at its 22 stores across 14 different cities in Colorado. SolarCity (San Mateo, California, US) will implement the PV arrays at Walgreens stores in the next months. The solar PV systems are expected to avoid more than 47.5 million pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions over the next 20 years. Read more

KIOTO wins Design Plus Award for integrated solar thermal storage collector

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 21:21 (Solarserver)

KIOTO Clear Energy AG (St. Veit / Glan, Austria) has received the ISH 2013 Design Plus Award for its integrated storage solar thermal collector “Solcrafte”. Out of over 200 entries from 15 countries, the jury recognized 34 proposals as particularly outstanding, including Kioto's integrated storage collector, the only solar thermal product among the winners. Read more

BrightSource suspends application for Hidden Hills solar CSP project, mulls adding storage

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 20:56 (Solarserver)

On April 3rd, 2013 BrightSource Energy Inc. (Oakland, California, US) suspended its permit application before the California Energy Commission (CEC) for its Hidden Hills concentrating solar power (CSP) project. Read more

BrightSource Shelves Another Major CSP Project

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 20:27 (Renewable Energy World)

BrightSource has cancelled the proposed Hidden Hills concentrated solar power (CSP) plants in California's Inyo County, saying proposed changes to the site's configuration would require numerous revisions and re-analyses, and even more delays and uncertainty. Read more

EuPD Research releases survey on PV installer views on EU anti-dumping case

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 19:04 (PV-Tech)

In a survey of around 120 European-based solar installers by EuPD Research, a majority were said to have expressed their discontent with the idea of penalties potentially being imposed on Chinese-made modules after the EU Commission completes its investigation in anti-dumping charges. Read more

Report: European installers nervous over China trade tariff

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 19:04 (PV-Tech)

A survey of European-based solar installers has revealed discontent over the idea of penalties potentially being imposed on Chinese-made modules after the EU Commission completes its investigation in anti-dumping charges. Read more

APS expands AZ Sun Program to include 32MW PV plant

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 18:04 (PV-Tech)

Utility firm Arizona Public Service Co (APS) has announced plans to develop a 32MW PV facility under its AZ Sun Program which seeks to increase the solar capacity in the state of Arizona. Read more

TGC Renewables seeks planning permission forMW solar park in Somerset

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 16:04 (Solarpowerportal)

Renewable energy project developer, TGC Renewables, has applied for planning permission for aMW project in Somerset. Read more

APS selects Black & Veatch to design, build 32 MW solar PV plant in Arizona

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 15:46 (Solarserver)

Arizona Public Service Company (APS, Phoenix, Arizona, US) has selected Black & Veatch (Overland Park, Kansas, US) to design and build a new 32 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in the US state of Arizona through APS' AZ Sun Program. Read more

Activ Solar completes 98.2 MW of PV plants in Ukraine

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 15:35 (Solarserver)

Activ Solar GmbH (Vienna, Austria) has completed construction of a 54.8 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant and commissioning of a 43.4 MW PV plant, both built on former illegal landfills in the Odessa region of Ukraine. Read more

JinkoSolar lands US$58 million from CDB for domestic PV development

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 14:35 (PV-Tech)

Adding to its US$1 billion, five-year financing deal with JinkoSolar, China Development Bank (CDB) has signed a US$58 million loan agreement with the module manufacturer to fund PV power plant projects in China. Read more

Reports: BrightSource shelves 500MW CSP plans

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 14:27 (PV-Tech)

US solar thermal developer BrightSource Energy has shelved a 500MW concentrating solar (CSP) plant in California, according to reports. Read more

RPS Attacks Go Against the March of History

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

Last week in Phoenix, I watched the very conservative governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, deliver a brief keynote speech to open the second day of the CleanTech Future conference put on by CleanTech Connections and the Arizona Commerce Authority. Nineteen floors above the impressive solar PV arrays at Arizona State University's downtown campus across the street, Brewer extolled the virtues of solar and other clean energy as a business boon for her state. Read more

Activ Solar installs 127.5MW of PV capacity in Q1 2013

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 12:36 (PV-Tech)

Activ Solar, a PV developer based in Vienna, Austria, has said it has installed a total of 127.5MW of PV capacity in the first three months of 2013. Read more

Fluor to provide O&M services for Arizona solar plant

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 12:14 (PV-Tech)

Texas-based contractor Fluor has signed a five-year contract to provide operations and maintenance services for Arlington Valley Solar Energy II’s new solar power facility in Arizona. Read more

JinkoSolar to supply 115 MW of solar PV modules for two projects in South Africa

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 12:12 (Solarserver)

JinkoSolar Holding Company Ltd. (Shanghai, China) will supply 115 MW of photovoltaic (PV) modules to an un-named developer for two PV projects in South Africa. The developer plans to build a 75 MW and a 40 MW PV plant, both of which were awarded under the second phase of the nation's Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Program (REIPPP). The developer will also have the option to purchase additional PV modules under the contract over the next three years. Read more

Indian solar renewable energy credits hit forbearance price

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 8:40 (Solarserver)

Indian solar renewable energy credits (SRECs) reached the forbearance price in March 2013 for the first time since SREC trading began in the nation, according to an analysis by RESolve Energy Consultations (Chennai, India) SRECs trading volume increased 42% during the month, which RESolve says is due to end of year compliance. SRECs traded at INR 13,400 (USD 246) on the Indian Energy Exchange Ltd. (IEX, New Delhi, India) and INR 13,000 (USD 238) on the Power Exchange India Ltd. (PXIL, Mumbai, India). Read more

IDB to loan USD 41.4 million to support Solarpack solar PV plants in Chile

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 8:35 (Solarserver)

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB, Washington DC, US) has approved USD 41.4 million in loans to support the construction and operation of two solar photovoltaic (PV) plants totaling 26.5 MW in Northern Chile. Solarpack (Getxo, Spain) has begun construction of a 25 MW PV plant, which will supply electricity for Compañía Doña Inés de Collahuasi's mine in Pozo Al Monte in the Tarapacá Region. The company has already built the 1 MW Calama Solar 3 PV plant to supply electricity to Codelco's (Santiago, Chile) Chuquicamata mine in the Antofagasta Region. Read more

Report: Solar industry should team up with electric vehicle companies

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 1:21 (PV-Tech)

Solar and electric vehicle companies should join forces to boost their chances of market penetration, a report out this week recommends. Read more

Solar industry should team up with electric vehicle companies

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 1:21 (PV-Tech)

Solar and electric vehicle companies should join forces to boost their chances of market penetration, a report out this week recommends. Read more

Getting More from Wind Turbines with Condition Monitoring Systems

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

Wind turbine downtime is particularly costly during winter, for two reasons. First, November to April is the period over which most such plants around the world produce around two thirds of their electricity yield. The wind farms depend on the availability of wind, which in turn depends on the season. Second, logistical costs for maintenance during this time of year are high. So turbine failure at this time must be avoided at all costs. Condition monitoring, perhaps integrated with programmable logic control, can help a plant maintain its energy availability over this crucial period. Read more

Nevada Utility to Shut Out Coal, Embrace Renewables

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 21:50 (Renewable Energy World)

Nevada's major public utility NV Energy announced Wednesday that it plans to shutter its four coal plants in southern Nevada and increase its investment in renewable energy and natural gas. Three of its coal plants will be shut down by 2014, and the fourth is scheduled to close its doors by 2017. NV Energy is calling its proposal "NVision," and included it as an amendment in Senate Bill 123. Read more

New Survey: Republican Voters Support Action on Clean Energy, Climate Change

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 19:41 (Renewable Energy World)

The Republican Party is not known for taking action on climate change, or even for acknowledging its existence. Republican voters across the country evidently do not feel the same way. A recently released national survey conducted by the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication and the Yale Project on Climate Change Communica Read more

juwi eyes international expansion

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 18:44 (PV-Tech)

German renewable energy firm juwi Group is eyeing up international business opportunities and is expecting around 50% of its business to be generated outside of Germany by 2015. Read more

Market Trends: Renewables Growth Shifting from Europe to Emerging Markets

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 17:55 (Renewable Energy World)

Triodos Investment Management BV, an arm of Dutch lender Triodos Bank NV, plans a clean-energy fund focused on emerging markets as growth in the industry shifts away from Europe. Read more

Western Power Distribution to use General Electric energy storage systems

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 16:45 (Solarpowerportal)

National distribution network operator (DNO), Western Power Distribution (WPD), has announced that it will install a number of energy storage systems later this year. Read more

100 Percent Renewable Vision Building

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 16:12 (Renewable Energy World)

Increasingly countries and regions are leapfrogging timid renewable targets and moving toward full 100 percent integration of renewables into electricity supply. Some thought leaders, politicians, and advocates are moving even further, suggesting 150 percent, even 300 percent renewable electricity generation to meet not only electricity supply but also heat and transport. Read more

Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2013: March Update

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 15:33 (Renewable Energy World)

While the broad market of small stocks as measured by my benchmark the iShares Russell 2000 Index (IWM) managed to turn in a small 2% gain in March for the third month in a row, clean energy stocks repeated February's performance, giving back more of January's spectacular gains. My clean energy benchmark, the Powershares Wilderhill Clean Energy Index (PBW), declined 3.2% to end the quarter up 5.5% for the year, while IWM closed up 12.2% for the first quarter. Read more

Energy Storage Series: Why We Need It, And Why We Don't

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

It's almost a cliché that there's a "friendly debate" pitting utilities against renewable energy. But concerns on the utility side of the table are real: intermittency, potential destabilization at the feeder level, non-baseload, and peaks in generation that don't necessarily match demand peaks. Today's power infrastructure involves unpredictability in both supply and demand that is extremely difficult to manage. The choice comes down to two options: over-generate so as to not undersupply, or find ways to better match up supply and demand. Read more

BSW-Solar: Solar prevented 19 million tons of CO2 emissions in Germany in 2012

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 12:19 (Solarserver)

The German Solar Industry Association (BSW-Solar, Berlin, Germany) estimates that Germans prevented the emission of 19 million tons of CO2 in 2012 through the use of solar thermal and solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies. BSW-Solar states that this represents the annual CO2 emissions of roughly nine million medium-sized automobiles, and a 30% increase over 2011 savings. The organization also notes that this is despite a slight increase in German CO2 emissions during 2012. Read more

Daqo New Energy losses intensify in 4Q 2012 on weak polysilicon shipments

Thursday, 4.4.2013 - 8:45 (Solarserver)

Daqo New Energy Corporation (Chongqing, China) has released results for the fourth quarter of 2012, reporting a 77% year-over-year collapse in revenues to USD 6.2 million and a net loss of USD 75.6 million. The company shut its polysilicon facility in Wanzhou, China for maintenance during the quarter, and these results do not include sales proceeds from pilot production from its new polysilicon facility in Xinjiang. Following a 63% decline in revenues over the full year 2012 to USD 86.9 million and a net loss of USD 112 million, the company expects improvement in 2013. Read more