Lack of clear business plan forces Wang and other directors to leave Suntech

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 13:33 (PV-Tech)

Disharmony amongst the executive ranks at struggling Suntech Power Holdings would seem to have reached a peak with the immediate exit of several key directors. Read more

‘Lack of clear business plan’ forces Wang and other directors to leave Suntech

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 13:33 (PV-Tech)

Disharmony amongst the executive ranks at struggling Suntech Power Holdings would seem to have reached a peak with the immediate exit of several key directors. Read more

Malaysia to release final residential PV quota for 2013

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 12:03 (PV-Tech)

The Malaysian government is to release the final 1.5MW of quota for residential PV eligible for the 2013 feed in tariff (FiT). Read more

Suntech announces director resignations, election of new chairman

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 9:49 (Solarserver)

Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (Wuxi, China) on August 27th, 2013 announced that Susan Wang, Julian Worley and Zhizhong Qiu resigned as directors of the solar Company with immediate effect. The departing directors indicated that they could no longer serve effectively as independent directors for reasons that included not being provided with information that was critical for them to fulfill their responsibilities and the Company's failure to implement some of their proposed actions, reads the press release. Read more

Andrah Pradesh introduces net metering

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 9:00 (Solarserver)

The Indian state of Andrah Pradesh (AP) has announced a net metering policy, which allows electricity customers to exchange electricity from solar photovoltaic (PV) generation for retail use on a 1-1 basis. Homes and businesses participating in the program will be supplied with bi-directional meters. However, in order to participate these homes and businesses must have a three-phase connection, which Indian periodical Business Standard says represents only a small portion of AP homes. Read more

JFE Engineering starts work on 21.7MW PV plant in Japan

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 4:00 (PV-Tech)

JFE Engineering has been contracted to build a 21.7MW photovoltaic power plant on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido by Japanese investment management firm Sparx Group. Read more

Arizona net metering battle ramps over taxation concerns

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 21:02 (PV-Tech)

Battles in Arizona between the state’s largest utility company and the solar industry has been ratched up after a business coalition filed controversial analysis to regulators claiming that federal tax credits would be replaced by federal taxes. Read more

Annual demand for solar power in UK passes 1GW milestone

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 18:15 (Solarpowerportal)

The UK solar market’s annual demand has hit the GW-level for the first time, according to research published by NPD Solarbuzz. Read more

U.S. Army to buy up to USD 7 billion worth of solar power (UPDATED)

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 18:02 (Solarserver)

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers has dedicated the entire USD 7 billion in its renewable energy purchase program to solar technology. The agency has additionally published a list of 22 companies that will be eligible for the work, which will span the next ten years. Read more

JinkoSolar supplies largest solar rooftop in Canada

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 17:59 (PV-Tech)

JinkoSolar has supplied Canada’s largest rooftop PV installation with 2.3MW of modules. Read more

Anti-subsidy case won’t derail dumping deal: EC

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 17:59 (Solarpowerportal)

The European Commission has confirmed that it has concluded its investigation into unfair subsidies for the Chinese solar energy manufacturing industry. Read more

Solarworld supplies panels for Dominican Republic’s largest PV plant

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 17:01 (PV-Tech)

PV manufacturer Solarworld has supplied panels and racking for the largest solar power installation in the Dominican Republic, a recently completed 1.5MW array at Cibao International Airport. Read more

U.S. Army to buy up to USD 7 billion worth of solar power

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 15:34 (Solarserver)

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers has dedicated the entire USD 7 billion in its renewable energy purchase program to solar technology. The agency has additionally published a list of 22 companies that will be eligible for the work, which will span the next ten years. Read more

Another ex-Enron employee joins First Solar in CCO role

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 14:46 (PV-Tech)

Following the appointment of Jim Hughes in March, 2013 in a then newly created role of CCO (chief commercial officer), Joe Kishkill has taken the vacant position at First Solar. Read more

REC bondholders approve spin-off of solar business

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 14:45 (Solarserver)

Bondholders at Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (REC, Sandvika, Norway) have approved the proposed separation of the company's solar and polysilicon business units. The company will now call a general meeting to approve the split. Read more

Pentagon awards US$7 billion of solar contracts

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 14:30 (PV-Tech)

The US Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded US$7 billion of contracts to 22 companies for the right to develop and sell solar energy to the US Army. Read more

US DOE Loan Program Financed $16 Billion in Renewables and More Coming

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 14:08 (Renewable Energy World)

The Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office (LPO) loaned $16 billion to the renewable energy projects with 85 percent going to solar projects as part of the Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Guess how much it lost during the nation’s worst recession since the Great Depression? Less then $1 billion. Overall, the LPO has about $34 billion in funds t Read more

The Solar Pricing Struggle

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 14:02 (Renewable Energy World)

Many a demand/supply PV industry participant has met their Waterloo/Alamo — choose your dramatic historical analogy — on the issue of pricing strategy. Figure 1(below) is a snapshot of PV industry average selling prices (ASP) for modules and demand for module products (as well as systems) from 2002 through 2012. Read more

Anti-subsidy case won’t derail dumping deal: EC

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 13:45 (PV-Tech)

The European Commission has confirmed that it has concluded its investigation into unfair subsidies for the Chinese solar energy manufacturing industry. Read more

Brownfield solar farm site transformed into wild chamomile haven

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 12:27 (Solarpowerportal)

A brownfield site has undergone a dramatic makeover since the installation of a solar farm five months ago. Read more

Shell subsidiary celebrates six months of providing Aramco with solar energy

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 12:16 (PV-Tech)

Solar Frontier, a subsidiary of the Japanese Shell Group, Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K, is celebrating the six month performance of a 10.5MW array in Saudi Arabia. Read more

Array delivers tracking system for 170MW California PV plant

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 11:54 (PV-Tech)

Solar tracking equipment manufacturer Array Technologies has completed shipment of a tracking system to a 170MWac solar PV project near Calexico, California, six months ahead of schedule. Read more

Accurate Solar PV Simulations Yield Better Test Results

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 11:33 (Renewable Energy World)

To deliver the maximum amount of power from solar panels or arrays, standalone inverters and grid-tie inverters use a sophisticated strategy to find the maximum power point, or MPP, for given conditions. They do this by varying the load on the solar panel or array until it finds the point on the panel’s or array’s I-V curve that will deliver the most power. The inverter then converts this DC power to AC power, which is then used locally or fed into the power grid. Read more

MNRE: Indian solar PV plant performance falls again in July 2013

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 9:44 (Solarserver)

Summer monsoons continue to affect the output of India's solar photovoltaic (PV) plants, as indicated by July 2013 performance data released by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). Capacity utilization factors (CUFs) for plants commissioned under the both batches in the first phase of the nation's National Solar Mission (NSM) fell to 14.8-23.1% during July 2013. CUFs for plants commissioned under the Rooftop PV and Small Solar Power Generation Program (RPSSGP) program fell to 6.3-19.5%. Read more

Martifer Solar to develop 50 MW of UK solar PV plants

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 9:35 (Solarserver)

Martifer Solar SA (Oliveira de Frades, Portugal) has announced that will develop 50 MW of new solar photovoltaic (PV) plants in England. The company intends to sell these plants during the licensing process, which it expects to complete at the end of 2013. The plants are located in the regions of Wiltshire, Swindon, Kent, Devon and Hampshire, and will have an average size of 10 MW. The company says that this follows a trend of developing larger plants in the nation as PV module prices drop. Read more

SolarWorld supplies modules for largest PV plant in the Dominican Republic at 1.5 MW

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 9:20 (Solarserver)

Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels from SolarWorld (Hillsboro, Oregon) now power the largest solar-electric installation in the Caribbean nation of Dominican Republic. The 1.5-megawatt solar array sits near the runway of Cibao International Airport. The PV system, featuring SolarWorld’s solar panels and proprietary racking, generates enough clean energy to cover about half of the airport’s energy needs, SolarWorld notes. Read more

Yingli surpasses milestone: 1 GW of solar PV modules delivered in the Americas

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 8:52 (Solarserver)

Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (Boading, China) on August 27th, 2013 announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Yingli Green Energy Americas, has achieved the historic milestone of more than 1 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules delivered to over 30,000 projects across the American continents and the Caribbean. Read more

Solar Exchange to launch online global solar marketplace

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 8:43 (Solarserver)

Solar Exchange (Menlo Park, California, U.S.) has announced that it will launch its cloud-based online commerce platform for the buying and selling of solar industry goods on September 9th, 2013. Solar Exchange will utilize both business to business auctions and request for quote systems to facilitate sales, which it says will create a direct connection between qualified solar businesses along the entire value chain. The site will feature solar photovoltaic (PV), concentrating solar power (CSP) and solar thermal goods. Read more

First solar tower in South Africa completed by Abengoa

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 4:26 (PV-Tech)

Renewable energy technology developer Abengoa has completed construction of South Africa’s first solar tower. Read more

UK Not Doing Enough To Win Renewable Investors, Says Report

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 12:59 (Renewable Energy World)

The UK is continuing to keep renewable energy investors at arms’ length by publishing key legislation in a piecemeal manner and backing shale gas at the expense of developing biomass. Read more

Transmission Link Will Bring Hydropower From Malaysia To Indonesia

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 15:38 (Renewable Energy World)

Indonesia and Malaysia are to be linked by a new transmission line. Read more

CBI: Overlapping policies deter energy efficiency investments

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 18:23 (Solarpowerportal)

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is calling on the government to make a concerted push to boost energy efficiency policy in the UK. Read more

BNEF: China to install up to 206GW distributed PV by 2030

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 14:38 (PV-Tech)

Bloomberg New Energy Finance has issued forecasts for the amounts of distributed PV and utility PV to be installed in China between this year and 2030. Read more

BNEF: China to install up to 206GW utility-scale PV by 2030

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 14:38 (PV-Tech)

Bloomberg New Energy Finance has issued forecasts for the amounts of distributed PV and utility PV to be installed in China between this year and 2030. Read more

Government not doing enough to improve investor confidence in UK renewables

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 13:12 (Solarpowerportal)

The UK has climbed to fourth in Ernst & Young’s annual Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Indices (RECAI), however, the report warns that not enough is being done to sustain current high levels of investor activity. Read more

Renewables to Challenge Coal in China as Power Sector Doubles in Size

Wednesday, 8.28.2013 - 10:55 (Renewable Energy World)

Big changes are on the way for China’s power sector, new analysis predicts, with renewables set to play a central role. Read more