Electrovaya receives order for lithium-ion battery systems for smart grid project in the UK

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 18:01 (Solarserver)

Electrovaya Inc. (Toronto, Canada) has received a purchase order from Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution (SSEPD) for a major distributed energy storage project. The project will lead to the installation of 25 distributed and independent energy storage systems in a single UK town. The systems will range in energy capacity from 12.5 kWh to over 80 kWh.

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Zhou Weiping to replace David King as Suntech CEO

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 8:34 (Solarserver)

Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (Wuxi, China) has announced that David King as stepped down as CEO and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), to be replaced by Zhou Weiping as interim CEO and interim CFO immediately. Zhou will retain his roles as president and director of the troubled solar photovoltaic (PV) maker, and Suntech states that its board will begin a search for a new CFO. This news comes only weeks after three directors of the company resigned in late August, prompting the election of a new chairman of the board. Read more

California Clears Path for More Commercial Solar Usage by Farmers, Ranchers

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 19:32 (Renewable Energy World)

The California Public Utilities Commission is expected this week to approve a draft resolution clearing the way for implementation of Senate Bill 594, which will allow a single solar system to offset electrical demand at multiple meters – especially important for farmers, ranchers, and other agriculturalists. This legislation was signed into law in Read more

Velux exits solar thermal market

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 18:26 (Solarpowerportal)

The Velux group has announced that it has discontinued sales of its solar thermal collectors. Read more

Utility Agrees: (Their) Solar Should Supplant Natural Gas

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 18:17 (Renewable Energy World)

Five months ago, one of the country's ten largest electric utilities told regulators in Minnesota that it needed three new natural gas power plants to handle peak energy demand.  This week, the same company's Colorado division announced plans to use more solar power because it is cost competitive with gas. Maybe they need a memo to share the news: Read more

SolarWorld power projects group deploys 1.1-MW solar PV array at Bay Area water treatment plant in California

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 18:10 (Solarserver)

The cities of Fairfield and Vacaville, Calif., announced the completion of a 1.1-megawatt solar photovoltaic (PV) system. The PV plant was designed, procured and constructed by SolarWorld (Camarillo, California, USA), and is owned, operated and financed by Sustainable Power Group (sPower, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA) through a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Fairfield. Read more

Schneider Electric wins solar projects in Japan with its integrated PV inverter solution

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 18:05 (Solarserver)

The Solar Business of Schneider Electric SA (Reuil-Malmaison, France) enters the Japanese solar market with an integrated solution based on the Conext Core XC solar photovoltaic (PV) inverters, adapted to meet the local requirements. According to Schneider, first projects have already been won in the Hyogo Prefecture and will be installed over the autumn. Read more

Boulder Looks to Solar as It Debates Creating Utility

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 16:35 (Renewable Energy World)

In an effort to create its own renewably-powered utility, Boulder, Colo., is reaching out to the solar industry to explore how the city will transition from its current electric supply from Xcel Energy to renewables. Boulder’s efforts to create its own utility have drawn national attention from utilities and the renewables industries.  At the heart Read more

What’s Your Solar Marketing Equivalent to a Flaming Moe?

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 16:09 (Renewable Energy World)

If you’re a fan of The Simpsons, then you may remember an episode in which Homer accidentally creates a signature drink that Moe re-brands as a “Flaming Moe.” That unique beverage makes Moe’s Tavern famous…at least for a time. Here’s a clip:  While it’s a funny episode that satirizes Cheers and hot nightclubs, there’s a serious solar marketing less Read more

Google, Solar Impulse to start high level partnership

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 15:36 (Solarserver)

The Silicon Valley internet company Google has become Solar Impulse’s official Internet Technology Partner. To commemorate this, Solar Impulse (Lausanne, Switzerland) will take their Google+ URL (google.com/+solarimpulse) to new heights on the side of their Swiss solar Impulse airplane, the partners announced. Read more

California sets new record for utility-scale solar PV, CSP output at 2.61 GW

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 15:24 (Solarserver)

The California Independent System Operator (ISO) reports that the output of California's utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) plants reached 2.61 GW at 1:13 PM local time on September 12th, 2013. Read more

Recharged Japan Solar PV Industry Hits 10 GW of Installed Capacity

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 15:23 (Renewable Energy World)

Solar photovoltaic (PV) installations in Japan have now reached the 10 gigawatts (GW) milestone for cumulative PV capacity. Japan is only the fifth country to reach this mark, after Germany, Italy, China and the U.S. Both the U.S. and China reached 10 GW of solar PV within the past few months, according to new research featured in the NPD Solarbuzz Asia Pacific PV Market Quarterly Report. Read more

Scatec Solar commissions Africa's largest solar plant, the 75 MW Kalkbult solar PV plant

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 14:50 (Solarserver)

On September 13th, 2013 Scatec Solar AS (Oslo, Norway) connected a 75 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in South Africa's Northern Cape region to the grid, as the first PV project to be completed under the nation's Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme (REIPPP). Read more

Schneider provides ‘plug and play’ solution to 5MW Grupo Solaer UK project

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 14:24 (Solarpowerportal)

Schneider Electric has supplied four of its PV Box power conversion substations to a 5MW solar power plant in Cobbs Cross, Bridgewater for Grupo Solaer. Read more

Martifer Solar complete 862kW rooftop plant for Max Mara

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 13:15 (PV-Tech)

Fashion brand Diffusione Tessile, a subsidiary of Max Mara Group, has had an 862.25kW multi-section solar plant installed on the rooftops of its industrial unit in Cavriago, Reggio Emilia, between Bologna and Milan in central northern Italy. Read more

Oder Focus: Schneider provides ‘plug and play’ solution to 5MW Grupo Solaer UK project

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 13:08 (PV-Tech)

Schneider Electric has supplied four of its PV Box power conversion substations to a 5MW solar power plant in Cobbs Cross, Bridgewater in the United Kingdom for Grupo Solaer. Read more

‘Incongruous and alien’ solar farm refused planning permission

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 13:02 (Solarpowerportal)

Proposals for a 12.8MW solar farm in Sandwich, Kent, have been refused planning permission by Dover District Council. Read more

Former landfill site set to host 10MW solar farm

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 11:15 (Solarpowerportal)

Plans for a 10MW solar farm on a former landfill site in Hampshire have been approved by Winchester Council. Read more

Object Lesson: Europe's Solar Energy Market

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 10:45 (Renewable Energy World)

An object lesson is a concrete example of a negative outcome often juxtaposed with a positive outcome, but always a lesson and one that is almost always worth paying attention to. Read more

PacWest makes progress towards building a Brazilian CIGS solar PV factory with investment, partnerships

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 9:27 (Solarserver)

PacWest Equities Inc. (Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.) has secured a USD 50 million financing commitment from Euro Brazil Investments SA (Luxembourg), in exchange for a minority stake in the company. The company has also partnered with Itambe Energy (Curitiba, Brazil) and 3CO Energy (Curitiba, Brazil), which it says will give it a foothold in the region to establish a copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing facility. PacWest received an invitation from the Brazilian government in August 2013 to build this factory. Read more

Japanese quarterly solar PV module demand falls slightly as imports exceed domestic supply

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 8:40 (Solarserver)

Japanese solar photovoltaic (PV) module demand fell 5% sequentially to 1.65 GW in the nation's most recent financial quarter, according to statistics released by the Japanese photovoltaic industry association (JPEA). Demand in the first quarter of Japan's fiscal year 2013, which ended on June 30th, 2013, was still more than three times as high as a year prior. Additionally, PV module imports totaled 925 MW, outpacing domestic production for the first time to meet 56% of demand. Read more

Aleo solar to dissolve U.S. subsidiary, quit American market

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 8:29 (Solarserver)

Aleo solar AG (Prenzlau, Germany) has reported that it will dissolve its U.S. subsidiary located in Denver, Colorado and withdraw from the solar business in the United States. The company says that while sales increased year-over-year, the division had failed to meet sales targets and was not operating profitably. Aleo has downsized its operations in 2013 following news in March that its majority stakeholder Robert Bosch GmbH (Gerlingen, Germany) would quit the solar business. Read more

Maine's Offshore Wind Development Becomes A Bidding War

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

Maine's offshore wind potential is considered a leading region for the entire U.S. — and now developing it has officially become a competition, with a second proposal now in play to tap the state's massive resource. Read more

Marubeni Begins Geothermal Survey in Japanese National Park

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 11:52 (Renewable Energy World)

Marubeni Corp. began a geothermal survey of Daisetsuzan National Park on the northern island of Hokkaido that will continue through February in the hopes Japan will discover more clean-energy sources. Read more

Harnessing the Sun’s Energy with Tiny Particles

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 18:35 (Renewable Energy World)

Engineers at U.S.-based Sandia National Laboratories, along with partner institutions Georgia Tech, Bucknell University, King Saud University and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), are using a falling particle receiver to more efficiently convert the sun’s energy to electricity in large-scale, concentrating solar power plants. Read more

Electrovaya to supply 25 energy storage systems for Thames Valley Vision project

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 17:14 (Solarpowerportal)

Electrovaya has won a competitive bid contract from Scottish and Southern energy Power Distribution (SSEPD) to supply energy storage equipment. Read more

Largest European Tidal Energy Project Granted Consent in Scotland

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 14:39 (Renewable Energy World)

The Scottish government approved an 86-MW tidal energy project, its energy minister announced today, which makes it the largest tidal stream energy project to be awarded consent in Europe. Read more

Largest European Tidal Energy Project Moving Forward

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 14:39 (Renewable Energy World)

The Scottish government approved an 86-MW tidal energy project, its energy minister announced today, which makes it the largest tidal stream energy project to be awarded consent in Europe. Read more

Goldpoly to raise US$30 million for PV power plant projects

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 13:15 (PV-Tech)

China-based Goldpoly New Energy is planning to issue a HK$232,959,339 (US$30 million approx) convertible bond for PV power plant projects. Read more

Spanish energy regulator stance on ‘autoconsumo’ backed by PV industry body

Monday, 9.16.2013 - 11:15 (PV-Tech)

The proposed reforms would affect small scale generators of PV energy, charging them high fees for grid use which would effectively make self-consumption more expensive than other forms of energy. Read more