SMA revenues fall 45% in H1 2013, geographic reach spreads

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 17:04 (Solarserver)

SMA Solar Technology AG (Neistetal, Germany) reports a 45% year-over-year collapse in revenues to EUR 461 million (USD 618 million) in the first half of 2013, as well as a -5.0% operating margin and a net loss of EUR 16.2 million (USD 21.7 million). The company's falling revenues reflect both a 37% decline in PV inverter shipments to 2.5 GW and lower prices. Read more

Suntech regains compliance with NYSE minimum share price listing requirement

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 9:31 (Solarserver)

Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (Wuxi, China) on August 7th, 2013 announced that it has regained compliance with the New York Stock Exchange's ("NYSE") minimum share price listing requirement. In a letter dated August 2nd, 2013 the NYSE notified the solar Company that a calculation of Suntech's average stock price for the 30 trading days ended July 31st, 2013 indicated that its stock price was above the NYSE's minimum requirement of an average trading price of USD 1 over a 30-day trading period and was above USD 1 on the last calendar day of the month of the trading period. On July 31, 2013, the Company's closing stock price was USD 1.44. Read more

European Commission will not impose anti-subsidy tariffs on Chinese PV imports

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 8:50 (Solarserver)

The European Commission (EC) has announced that it will not impose provisional anti-subsidy (countervailing) duties against Chinese solar photovoltaic (PV) imports. The body states that the injury to the EU PV industry has been removed by provisional anti-dumping measures and the price undertaking. However, the EC will continue the countervailing duty (CVD) investigation with plans to arrive at findings by the end of 2013, and can reverse its decision not to impose duties within nine months. The CVD investigation was first launched on November 8th, 2013. Read more

Suntech May Not Get a Solar Rescue from Beijing

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 18:34 (Renewable Energy World)

The latest signs coming from bankrupt solar panel maker Suntech (NYSE: STP) indicate a Beijing-led overhaul for the struggling sector may not be coming after all, and that local governments and other stakeholders may instead become the main rescue agents for these companies. Reports last year had hinted that Beijing was working on a broad plan to r Read more

Arizona’s net energy metering battle ‘chills’ new solar business

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 18:15 (PV-Tech)

Attacks on net metering policy in Arizona have had a chilling effect that prevented one of the largest residential solar installers in the US from entering the market, according to a top executive at the company. Read more

Yingli Green, Canadian Solar and Trina Solar hit higher sales and shipments

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 16:15 (PV-Tech)

Three of the leading PV manufacturers in China are pointing to higher product shipments and sales in the second quarter of 2013, supporting a plethora or market analyst reports that the PV industry is in recovery mode. Read more

Japanese oil and gas giant to increase solar PV portfolio fourfold

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 16:15 (PV-Tech)

Japanese refinery and energy giant JX Nippon Oil and Energy Corporation (JX Energy) is scheduled to build three solar power plants with a combined capacity of 17MW in the Akita, Fukushima and Okinawa regions of Japan. Read more

Sharing Renewable Energy: Solar Power Co-operatives in the UK

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 15:47 (Renewable Energy World)

Solar power co-operatives are fast emerging has an innovative way for local communities to gain access to renewable energy generation. Over the last few years, several such initiatives have been successfully launched in the UK — with new schemes opening in a number of cities including London and Bristol. So, how do such schemes work? And what benefits can they provide to local people? Read more

Japanese sales, project successes boost Canadian Solar's Q2 2013 results

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 15:44 (Solarserver)

Canadian Solar Inc. (Guelph, Canada) has released second quarter 2013 results, reporting a 9% year-over-year increase in revenues to USD 380 million, a 3% operating margin and a net loss of USD 7.9 million. Read more

Calculating Solar Energy's Land-Use Footprint

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 15:44 (Renewable Energy World)

New statistics from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) reveal exactly how much land is needed to site a solar plant of various sizes and technologies, based on actual plants and projects and not models or projections. The takeway: your mileage may vary. Read more

SMA Solar sales continue slump on market conditions and competitive pricing

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 15:04 (PV-Tech)

Although international sales accounted for 67.4% of revenue in the first-half of 2013, SMA Solar Technology’s dependence on the shrinking German and Italian markets saw PV inverter unit sales decline 38% to 2.5GW, compared to 4GW sold in the same period a years ago. Read more

SolarWorld gets approval to restructure, Frank Asbeck to remain CEO

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 13:56 (Solarserver)

Shareholders of SolarWorld AG (Bonn, Germany) have voted to approve the company's restructuring program, as the final approval needed to proceed. The company will also retain Frank Asbeck as CEO for another five years. Read more

Abundance raises £700,000 in 35 days for solar projects

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 13:33 (Solarpowerportal)

A renewable energy crowdfunding platform has hit its £700,000 target in order to fund two solar projects after 35 days. Read more

10.2MW Somerset solar farm given the go-ahead

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 13:14 (Solarpowerportal)

Sedgmoor District Council has given planning permission to a 27-hectare solar farm near Highbridge in Somerset. Read more

AMEC awarded 250MW Copper Mountain Solar 3 project

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 12:46 (PV-Tech)

British consultancy, engineering and project management firm AMEC has been awarded 250MW of solar projects near Las Vegas by renewable energy and natural gas company Sempra US Gas and Power. Read more

SolarWorld shareholders approve rescue package

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 12:33 (PV-Tech)

Shareholders in the beleaguered German manufacturer SolarWorld have given the green light to a comprehensive restructuring of the company’s finances. Read more

REC sells four solar PV plants totaling 7.9 MW in Sardinia

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 12:19 (Solarserver)

Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (Sandvika, Norway) has sold four ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) plants totaling 7.9 MW on the island of Sardinia to the investment arm of IKAV SICAV FIS (Luxembourg). REC developed, constructed, financed and commissioned the four plants, located in Villacidro, Pischedda, Ulmos and Lula. The plants comprise 31,000 REC crystalline silicon PV modules. Read more

CNPV to supply 1.1 MW of solar PV modules for Africa's largest rooftop solar PV plant

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 12:15 (Solarserver)

CNPV Solar Power SA (Luxembourg) has announced that it will supply 1.1 MW of its polycrystalline silicon solar photovoltaic (PV) modules for a rooftop PV project in Namibia, which will the the largest rooftop PV system in Africa when complete. The plant will incorporate diesel generation in a hybrid design using Donauer Solartechnik GmbH's (Gilching, Germany) D:Hybrid System for client Namibia Breweries Ltd. (Windhoek, Namibia), the nation's largest brewery. Read more

Solar Shakeout: Conergy targets manufacturing sell-offs by October

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 11:30 (PV-Tech)

Insolvent German solar firm Conergy has said it hopes to agree deals for the sale of its PV module and mounting manufacturing units by October. Read more

Solar Power’s New Allies Named Bubba and Goldwater

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 11:00 (Renewable Energy World)

At Clean Edge, we’ve said for years that clean energy and energy efficiency should not be partisan issues — that benefits like quality American jobs, reduced dependence on imported oil, leadership in technology innovation, and cleaner air and water should appeal across the political spectrum. Read more

Brazilian government invites PacWest to set up CIGS solar PV manufacturing in Brazil

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 8:40 (Solarserver)

PacWest Equities Inc. (Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.) reports that it has been invited by Brazilian government officials to bring its line of copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing equipment to the nation to set up manufacturing for various PV products. PacWest acquired the CIGS PV manufacturing lines and a library of 51 patents from DayStar Technologies Inc. (Kelowna, Canada) in March 2013. The technology cost over USD 100 million to develop. Read more

Tamil Nadu proposes INR 5.78/kWh tariff for utility-scale solar PV projects

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 8:33 (Solarserver)

The electricity regulatory commission in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu has published a consultative paper which calls for a tariff of INR 5.78 (USD 0.0944) per KWh for utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) projects. “Comprehensive Tariff Order on Solar Power” also recommends tariffs of INR 8.15 (USD 0.133) per kWh for smaller-scale PV, and INR 8.34 (USD 0.136) per kWh for concentrating solar power (CSP) plants. RESolve Energy Consultants (Chennai, India) has noted that these figures do not appear to be retroactive. Read more

SolarCity shows ongoing growth in Q2 results

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 0:19 (Solarserver)

SolarCity Corp. (San Mateo, California, U.S.) reports an ongoing increase in customers, contracted lease payments and funding deals, but continuing losses in its second quarter 2013 results. Read more

US Wind Energy Market Takes Off

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 15:52 (Renewable Energy World)

The U.S. wind energy industry is continuing to pay off for those who have invested in it, both in terms of power generated as well as manufacturing and jobs. This is according to a pair of studies the DOE has made public. More than 13 GW of wind energy capacity was added onto the U.S. grid last year. That's double what was added the year before. To Read more

Wireless Vibration Monitoring Breezing into Wind Industry

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

Wind turbines can, and do, fail. And, when they do fail, they do so in spectacular fashion. A quick search on YouTube for “wind turbine failures” yields numerous videos of exploding wind turbines, wind turbines on fire, or involved in other high-stress calamities. Read more

Leaks reveal EU efforts to close Chinese PV offshore loophole

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 13:43 (PV-Tech)

More details of the EU trade deal have emerged including an attempt to stop Chinese manufacturers from circumventing the legislation by sending production capacity overseas. Read more

Yingli Green expands distribution in Australia and New Zealand

Thursday, 8.8.2013 - 12:52 (PV-Tech)

Global module manufacturer Yingli Green has signed an agreement with Australia and New Zealand electrical wholesalers and solar system designers L&H Solar + Solutions that is expected to extend the company’s reach in the region. Read more