Copper Matrix: A Push for Cheaper, More Efficient Solar Cells

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 19:39 (Renewable Energy World)

Using copper instead of silver to create the electrical contact lines on solar panels is one of the in-vogue technologies these days, judging by a panel that devoted to commercializing this process at Intersolar in San Francisco this week. Read more

Copper Matrix: A Push for Cheaper Solar Cells

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 19:39 (Renewable Energy World)

Using copper instead of silver to create the electrical contact lines on solar panels is one of the in-vogue technologies these days, judging by a panel that devoted to commercializing this process at Intersolar in San Francisco this week. Read more

California installs 391 MW of rooftop PV in 2012

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 12:51 (Solarserver)

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has released its annual report on the California Solar Initiative (CSI), finding a 26% increase in installed rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity to 391 MW in 2012. At the end of the first quarter of 2013, the total rooftop PV in California had reached 1.63 GW. This represents 66% of the CSI program goal, with another 19% in pending projects. Read more

Mosaic to crowd-fund 12.3 MW PV project on military housing in New Jersey, 657 kW on a school in Colorado

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 8:30 (Solarserver)

Solar crowd-funding platform Mosaic (Oakland, California, US) has launched two new offerings, a 12.3 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project on military housing in the US state of New Jersey and a 657 kW PV project on a school in the state of Colorado. The 12.3 MW project will provide electricity at a reduced rate to homes at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. Mosaic will finance the project through a partnership with bank holding company CIT Group Inc. (New York City) and military housing developer United Communities (Trenton, New Jersey, US). Read more

SolarEdge out-performs PV string and micro-inverters in NREL test

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 21:01 (Solarserver)

Results of a series of tests designed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL, Golden, Colorado, US) and conducted by PV Evolution Labs (PVEL, Berkeley, California, US) to measure the performance of various solar photovoltaic (PV) inverter technologies in various shading conditions were published on July 11th, 2013. The test determined the annual percentage of energy recovered by power optimizers and micro-inverters when compared to traditional string inverter systems in shaded conditions. The results indicate that the SolarEdge Technologies (Hod Hasharon, Israel) optimized system generates 2%, 5% and over 8% more solar power than traditional string inverters in Read more

NLP Solar Sales Training July 24 & 25 - New Bonus for Contractors & Sales Teams

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 17:31 (Renewable Energy World)

. Read more

Solar installations plummet by 90% following FiT deadline

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 17:20 (Solarpowerportal)

The latest weekly installation figures for the sub 50kW market show a 90% fall off from last week’s year-high levels which saw 32MW installed. Read more

CIGS Solar PV Roundup: Fundings, Expansions, And Cutbacks

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 17:05 (Renewable Energy World)

It's been a surprisingly busy week in the field of thin-film solar PV, specifically for the variety known as CIGS (copper-indium-gallium-selenide), and it spans the spectrum from positive (new funding and expansions) to not so upbeat (restructuring, missed payments, and acquisitions). Read more

UK Announces Renewable Heat Tariffs

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 17:05 (Renewable Energy World)

UK homeowners could be paid hundreds of pounds a year for heat generated by solar thermal panels, biomass boilers and heat pumps under the nation’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), energy and climate change minister Greg Barker announced today. The RHI was initiated in 2009 but there have been significant delays in setting tariff levels, creating uncertainty in the renewable heating sector. Today’s long-awaited reveal was welcomed enthusiastically by the industry. Read more

Why Today Was a Historic Day for Solar Energy in Georgia

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 16:37 (Renewable Energy World)

Image Credit: Suniva The handful of solar advocates rallying outside the state capitol Thursday morning set the stage for what would become a historic day for solar energy in Georgia. As the morning progressed, the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) conducted a public hearing that brought in both clean energy supporters and opponents to give t Read more

A Historic Day for Solar Energy in Georgia

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 16:37 (Renewable Energy World)

Image Credit: Suniva The handful of solar advocates rallying outside the state capitol Thursday morning set the stage for what would become a historic day for solar energy in Georgia. As the morning progressed, the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) conducted a public hearing that brought in both clean energy supporters and opponents to give t Read more

Trina Solar supplies 7MW of PV modules to Ikaros Solar for UK project

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 15:46 (Solarpowerportal)

Module manufacturers Trina Solar has supplied 7MW of PV modules to installers Ikaros Solar for a large agriculture project in the UK. Read more

Doing Good by Doing Solar

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 15:42 (Renewable Energy World)

For those of us who live in communities traversed by power lines, it's hard to imagine life without electricity. But large swaths of the globe remain without this modern necessity. About one-fifth of the world, or 1.3 to 1.6 billion people, live in energy poverty, mostly in sub-Sahara Africa and parts of Asia, and to a smaller extent in Latin America and the Middle East. Read more

China becomes first country to hit 3GW milestone for utility-scale solar

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 15:34 (PV-Tech)

China leapfrogged Germany in June to become the first country in the world to install 3GW of utility-scale solar power, according to the latest data from Wiki-Solar. Read more

Utility solar leads in global clean tech investment

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 13:45 (PV-Tech)

An upsurge in investment in solar and wind projects in the second quarter of 2013 contributed to a 22% overall increase in global investment in clean energy, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Read more

GCL-Poly raise US$98 million through private note issue

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 13:23 (PV-Tech)

China’s largest polysilicon and solar wafer producer, GCL-Poly Energy, has raised approximately US$97.74 million from unspecified financial institutions in China. Read more

Solar farm debate shines light on industry practice

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 12:50 (Solarpowerportal)

A Westminster Hall debate on the development of rural solar farms yesterday has provided industry with a warning over poor practices. Read more

QBotix unveils upgrade to robotic PV tracking system at Intersolar North America

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 12:46 (Solarserver)

QBotix (Menlo Park, California, US) unveiled its SolBot R-225 and other enhancements for its Robotic Tracking System at the Intersolar North American trade show in San Francisco, California on July 9th, 2013. The SolBot R-225 can manage 340 kW of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules, a 13% improvement over the SolBot R-200. The new model is also smaller, lighter and requires fewer components. Read more

Global solar PV market to top US$134 billion by 2020

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 12:17 (PV-Tech)

The global solar PV market will be worth US$134 billion by 2020, according to a new report by Navigant Research. Read more

TSMC Solar raises CIGS module efficiency to 15.7%

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 12:09 (PV-Tech)

Taiwan-based TSMC Solar has pushed its CIGS thin-film module efficiency to 15.7%, up from 15.1%, only four months ago. Read more

Saving the best for last: Day 3 of Intersolar North America

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 8:26 (Solarserver)

The final day of the Intersolar North America trade show may have been the most interesting. Notably, the final conference panel of solar industry CEOs featured a sharp exchange between moderator Dr. Eicke Weber of Fraunhofer ISE and SolarWorld Americas President Gordon Brinser over the issue of US and EU tariffs, illustrating the deep divide that remains in this industry over that issue. Another main theme was shifting markets, as the industry grapples with the move of PV markets to Asia and an increasing number of emerging markets around the world. The show's technical focus was also carried through, with conference panels maintaining the theme of incremental technology Read more

Georgia Power ordered to build 525 MW of new solar PV

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 6:33 (Solarserver)

On July 11th, 2013 the Public Service Commission in the US state of Georgia voted to approve a new program to require Georgia Power (Atlanta, Georgia, US) to build 525 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) plants in the state by 2016. Read more

Enerparc poised to enter the US solar development market

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 3:44 (PV-Tech)

Enerparc, a major European solar developer, appears poised to move into the US market after it was announced yesterday that the company has selected a San Francisco-based company to assist with due diligence and transactions Read more

Subsidy Cuts Eroding European Biopower, Analysis Finds

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 15:21 (Renewable Energy World)

We hear a lot about how the economic crisis and subsidy cuts are affecting Europe’s solar and wind sectors — but what about the bioenergy sector? According to a new report from analysis firm Frost & Sullivan (F&S), a number of European countries are giving up on biopower installations as a means of meeting their 2020 renewable energy targets as reduced or shelved incentives make bioenergy plants an increasingly unsustainable proposition. As in other renewable energy markets, policy changes have added to the problem by creating uncertainty in the biopower sector. Read more

Annual Offshore Wind Investment to Hit €18 billion

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 16:22 (Renewable Energy World)

A new report on offshore wind from energy advisors Douglas-Westwood concludes that sector spending is set to average almost €15 billion per year over the next ten years, hitting a peak of €18 billion in 2016. Read more

Hybrid Wind-Tidal Turbine To Be Installed off Japanese Coast

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 11:00 (Renewable Energy World)

A hybrid wind-current power generation system will be installed off the Japanese coast later this year, said Tokyo-based Mitsui Ocean Development & Engineering Company (MODEC), the device’s developer. Read more

Report: Renewable energy overtaking declining nuclear

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 17:06 (Solarpowerportal)

Only 1.2GW of nuclear generation capacity was installed last year globally compared to 32GW of solar, according to a report proclaiming the end of the “nuclear renaissance”. Read more

Domestic RHI: Industry reaction

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 15:53 (Solarpowerportal)

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has finally revealed the details of the domestic RHI after the scheme was first trailed four years ago. Below is a comprehensive round-up of the industry’s reaction to the news: Read more

Finally, Turning the Heat up on Climate Change

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 15:28 (Renewable Energy World)

A lot happened while I was unplugged and on vacation during late June. The Muslim Brotherhood offices in Cairo were stormed and then-Egyptian-president Mohammed Morsi’s tenure teetered on dissolution, record heat waves gripped the entire U.S. West resulting in devastating fires and deaths, and the Supreme Court overturned the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8, setting the stage for a new era in U.S. gay and lesbian rights. On top of that, President Obama unveiled a dramatic, wide-ranging new climate plan, getting the summer off to a heated start. Read more

Report: Renewable energy overtaking declining nuclear

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 15:14 (PV-Tech)

Only 1.2GW of nuclear generation capacity was installed last year globally compared to 32GW of solar, according to a report proclaiming the end of the “nuclear renaissance”. Read more

Bloomberg New Energy Finance: US, China, South Africa lead rebound in Q2 2013 clean energy investments

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 13:14 (Solarserver)

Global investment in clean energy was USD 53.1 billion in the second quarter of 2013, up 22% from the first quarter thanks to an upturn in the financing of wind and solar projects and a 170% surge in equity funding for specialist companies on public markets, Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF, New York, New York, US) announced. The Q2 rebound was led by the US, which saw investment jump 155% compared to a weak first quarter, to reach USD 9.5 billion, and also China (up 63% at USD 13.8 billion) and South Africa (up from almost nothing in Q1 to USD 2.8 billion in Q2). Read more

UN Recognition for Hydro in Brazil, Wind in Uruguay

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 11:50 (Renewable Energy World)

Two more renewable energy projects in Latin America are recognized under the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which was established as part of the Kyoto Protocol to spur implementation of projects that contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases, and that can also be used as a carbon credit “cap and trade” mechanism. Read more

DECC lifts lid on domestic RHI

Friday, 7.12.2013 - 11:12 (Solarpowerportal)

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has announced the domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) levels after years of delays. Read more