Suntech Power Holdings receives second delisting notice

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 17:50 (PV-Tech)

Having defaulted on its US$541 million bond, and its main Chinese subsidiary forced into bankruptcy, Suntech Power Holdings shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) have since traded well below the US$1.0 level for over 30-trading days. Read more

M+W Group contracted to build Israel's largest PV plant

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 15:01 (Solarserver)

M+W Group (Stuttgart, Germany) has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by Enlight Renewable Energy Ltd. (Rosh Haayin, Israel) to build a 55 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in Israel, as the largest PV plant in the nation to date. Read more

Boosting Solar Cells with Nanowires

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

Solar module makers are struggling even as cost points are at a bare minimum (and arguably unsustainably so) — and yet lower prices persist, especially in lower-end crystalline silicon (c-Si) modules. However, there is still improvement to be made in efficiency, says Dave Epstein, CEO of Sol Voltaics. More efficient panels can both be sold at higher prices and installed with fewer panels to reduce the cost profile of an entire project. The economics improves for everyone. Read more

Suntech shares jump on Buffett acquisition reports

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 13:05 (PV-Tech)

Shares in China’s troubled PV manufacturer Suntech rallied yesterday following unconfirmed rumours that US investor Warren Buffet is considering buying the company. Read more

SMA wins Indian Industrial Excellence Award

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 12:09 (Solarserver)

On April 5th, 2013, SMA Solar Technology AG (Niestetal, Germany) announced that its Indian subsidiary has received the Indian Industrial Excellence Award from the Indian Economic Development Research Association (IEDRA). SMA states the award recognizes SMA Solar India's exceptional accomplishments in the area of photovoltaics (PV) and the company's commitment to providing a reliable and clean power supply. Read more

Australia reaches milestone: More than one million PV systems installed

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 12:06 (Solarserver)

More than two million Australians are now getting cheaper power and saving some half a billion dollars a year on their electricity bills, because of their switch to solar energy, Australia’s Clean Energy Council reports. The number of Australian homes with solar photovoltaic (PV) systems has passed the one million mark, according to figures from the Clean Energy Regulator that confirm the milestone was reached in March. Read more

Mercom: Third-party finance booming as solar VC remains down

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 20:28 (Solarserver)

Mercom Capital Group (Austin, Texas, US) has released its first quarter 2013 “Solar Funding and Mergers and Acquisitions” report, finding that while venture capital (VC) activity remains depressed, third party solar finance firms continue to raise substantial VC and project funds. Read more

VC solar investments slump amid boom for lease companies

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 20:10 (PV-Tech)

Venture capital investments in solar have slumped to a record low just as funding booms for third party lease companies, according to a new report out today. Read more

NREL verifies First Solar’s 16.1% total area module efficiency record leap

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 17:02 (PV-Tech)

First Solar has made a significant leap in total area module efficiency that has been verified by the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Read more

Martifer Solar builds 28 MW of solar PV plants in the UK

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 16:10 (Solarserver)

Martifer Solar SA (Oliveira De Frades, Portugal) has built and commissioned five solar photovoltaic (PV) plants totaling 28.1 MW in the United Kingdom, over the course of 15 weeks. The PV plants, between 4.4 and 6.63 MW, were built in Cornwall, Hampshire, Devon and Wiltshire, England. Lightsource Renewable Energy (London, UK) has purchased all five projects, and has retained Martifer Solar to provide operations and maintenance services for the plants. Read more

Asia Report: Solar in "Emerging" Asia

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 15:00 (Renewable Energy World)

Solar PV demand from countries in "emerging" Asia and Central Asia will ramp at a 28 percent annual pace from 2013-2017 to 3 gigawatts (GW) of demand by 2017, up from just 723 MW in 2012, as the region reaches beyond solar lighting and residential schemes and embraces more large-scale ground-mounted PV installations, according to NPD Solarbuzz. Read more

Sunnovations Launches Monitoring Tools for Solar Water Heating

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

A Virginia startup is launching a monitoring system that it says will not only enable homeowners keep track of the performance of their solar water heaters but also help states craft more effective incentives for installing those systems. Read more

Americans Want More Emphasis on Solar, Wind, Natural Gas

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

No fewer than two in three Americans want the U.S. to put more emphasis on producing domestic energy using solar power (76%), wind (71%), and natural gas (65%). Far fewer want to emphasize the production of oil (46%) and the use of nuclear power (37%). Least favored is coal, with about one in three Americans wanting to prioritize its domestic production. Read more

NRG Introducing Solar with Battery Storage for Homeowners

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

NRG Energy keeps making waves—in energy. The energy supplier, which owns gigawatts of electric generation, including solar, wind, natural gas and coal facilities across the U.S., recently started going a lot smaller, offering residential solar photovoltaic installations through its subsidiary, NRG Residential Solar. Now it plans to offer PV systems Read more

Mosaic gets go-ahead for US$100 million Californian solar investments

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 13:52 (PV-Tech)

California-based solar crowd funder Mosaic has received approval from regulators to offer US$100 million worth of solar investments to California residents. Read more

European solar industry divided over China tariffs

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 13:18 (PV-Tech)

The European solar industry is split over whether the European Commission should impose trade duties on Chinese module manufacturers. Read more

Martifer Solar installs 28MW of PV capacity in the UK

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 12:33 (PV-Tech)

Portuguese PV developer Martifer Solar has successfully completed five solar parks totalling 28.1MW in the UK. Read more

Poll: UK solar industry split on European investigation of Chinese modules

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 12:24 (Solarpowerportal)

A European market research company has revealed that 42.9% of UK installers back the European Commission imposing duties on Chinese modules, whereas 32.1% are against them. Read more

Update: UK solar industry split on European investigation of Chinese modules

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 12:24 (Solarpowerportal)

A European market research company has revealed that 42.9% of UK installers back the European Commission imposing duties on Chinese modules, whereas 32.1% are against them. Read more

500 kW community solar PV farm to be built in Colorado

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 12:12 (Solarserver)

On April 4th, 2013, Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association (Ft. Collins, Colorado, U.S.) announced that it has signed an agreement with the Clean Energy Collective (Carbondale, Colorado, U.S.) to construct a second community solar photovoltaic (PV) farm with a capacity of 500 kilowatts (kW). Last year, PVREA built the first community solar farm in Northern Colorado with 494 solar panels and a total generation capacity of 116,090 watts. It was dedicated in August 2012. Read more

Martifer Solar completes five solar parks totalling 28MW across the UK

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 11:44 (Solarpowerportal)

Portuguese solar developer Martifer Solar has completed a cluster of five solar parks totalling 28.1MW. Read more

US Army to build 20 MW solar PV plant on Texas base

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 9:08 (Solarserver)

The US Army Corps of Engineers has authorized El Paso Electric Company (El Paso, Texas, US) to begin work on a 20 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant at Fort Bliss in the US state of Texas. The USD 120 million project will be the largest single renewable energy project at any US military installation to date, and is scheduled to be completed in 2015. Read more

Solar thermal represents increased share of UK's RHPP program

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 9:04 (Solarserver)

The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has released information on deployment of systems through its Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) and Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) programs in the first three months of 2013. The portion of solar thermal systems among total RHPP vouchers issued grew from 33% under phase 1 to 38% under phase 2. Solar thermal makes up a much smaller portion of the RHI, with only 96 applications to date representing 1.3 MWth, or 0.3% of total program capacity. Read more

SEDA: Malaysia's latest solar PV feed-in tariff round fills rapidly

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 9:01 (Solarserver)

The latest round of Malaysia's feed-in tariff for solar photovoltaic (PV) systems 500 kW and smaller has been filled in the first hour after opening, according to the nation's Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA). The 20 MW round opened at 12 PM on April 2nd, 2013, and SEDA's e-FiT online system received 137 applications by the end of the first hour. The agency notes that 99% of the applications were for PV systems larger than 24 kW, despite a 20% degression in the rate paid to owners of these systems. Read more

SEMI calls for global solar trade agreement

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 0:45 (Solarserver)

Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI, San Jose, California, US) recently organized a solar brains trust in Brussels, Belgium. The Brussels event was attended by a group of policy experts to discuss "A Global Solar Trade Agreement?" The attendees discussed the current state of solar photovoltaic (PV) trade disputes, with a goal to shift the conversation toward a more unified, industry driven solution, SEMI states. Read more

SolarWorld PV modules powering "net-zero" model home in California

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 0:32 (Solarserver)

On April 4th, 2013, SolarWorld (Hillsboro, Oregon, US) announced that it has supplied 6.25 kilowatts (kW) solar photovoltaic (PV) modules for the Green Idea House, the first net-zero-energy, zero-combustion home in Southern California. Read more

Renewables Provide 82% of New US Electrical Generating Capacity in 1Q2013

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 13:00 (Renewable Energy World)

According to the latest "Energy Infrastructure Update" report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Office of Energy Projects, renewable energy sources (i.e., biomass, geothermal, solar, water, wind) accounted for 82 percent of all new domestic electrical generating capacity installed in the first three months of 2013 for a total of 1,546 MW. Read more

Recruiting Amidst the Winds of Change

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

Wind power has seen dramatic growth in recent years and remains a highly topical and highly politicised sector. It plays an important role in Europe's economy, contributing to its gross domestic product (GDP) and job creation. Ernst & Young, for example, estimates that for every €1 million invested in wind, twenty-one jobs are created. Read more

Solar Wind Energy Tower changes design to reduce costs of Downdraft power plant

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 0:34 (Solarserver)

On April 4th, 2013, Solar Wind Energy Tower Inc. (Annapolis, Maryland, US) announced that it has made new developments to reduce expected capital costs and improve projected financial performance of its Solar Wind Downdraft Tower. The company recently completed weather data models that confirm the first tower height was reduced from 3,000 feet to 2,250 feet. Lowering the tower's height and changing the shape enables the structure to be built much more affordably using the newest formulations of industrial concrete, the company states. Read more

Pace Financing Concept Provides Hope for Renewable Energy Projects

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 16:32 (Renewable Energy World)

Solar-energy installations are set to receive record loans this year through a U.S. municipal finance tool modeled after one that backed $17 billion of sewers and sidewalks in the past decade. Read more

PACE Financing Concept Provides Hope for Renewable Energy Projects

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 16:32 (Renewable Energy World)

Solar-energy installations are set to receive record loans this year through a U.S. municipal finance tool modeled after one that backed $17 billion of sewers and sidewalks in the past decade. Read more

Poland Plans to Cut Subsidy for Renewables as Deficit Grows

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 16:14 (Renewable Energy World)

Poland plans to cut renewable-energy subsidies after an economic slump boosted the budget deficit, the deputy economy minister said. Read more

Utility "Gets Ready" for More Local Energy in Hawai'i

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 15:00 (Renewable Energy World)

Hawai’an solar advocates are celebrating after the island state’s largest utility, Hawai’ian Electric (HECO) filed a plan with the public utility commission to take a “proactive approach” to adding more distributed solar to their grid system. Utilities across the country typically use “conservative blanket limits” on the amount of renewable energy Read more

Green Utilities offers 0% finance on renewable installations

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 13:12 (Solarpowerportal)

Green Utilities is offering 0% finance for renewable installations through its Green Installer network. Read more

Caplor Energy appoints new business development coordinator

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 11:22 (Solarpowerportal)

Herefordshire-based solar installer Caplor Energy has appointed Mel Preedy as the company’s new business development coordinator. Read more

Standard Bank, ICBC make USD 2.2 billion in funding available for renewable energy projects in South Africa

Tuesday, 4.9.2013 - 0:48 (Solarserver)

Standard Bank Group (Johannesburg, South Africa) and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (ICBC, Beijing, China) have signed a USD 2.2 billion funding support agreement for renewable energy projects in South Africa. Through the agreement, Standard Bank and ICBC will jointly provide debt financing to projects awarded under South Africa's Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme (REIPPP), in projects where Standard Bank is or will be mandated as lead arranger. Read more