German project developer Soventix builds first PV plant in Romania for own account; 2.1 MW in the region Mures

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 17:32 (Solarserver)

Soventix GmbH (Duisburg, Germany) started to build the first solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in the Romanian region Mures. Together with its local partner Cis Gas SRL, Soventix realizes the 2.1 MWp PV plant in order to include it in its own portfolio. Read more

India solar industry map revealed

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 19:11 (PV-Tech)

India solar industry consultancy, Bridge to India, has published its National Solar Map showing 1.8GW commissioned as of August. Read more

Is It Time To Fix the Solar ITC?

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 18:46 (Renewable Energy World)

Solar industry backers are rallying support for what could be a crucial change to the language of the solar investment tax credit (ITC), to help pave the way for future solar energy projects large and small. Read more

Solar and wind emission-effect on fossil fuel plants ‘negligible’

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 18:13 (PV-Tech)

High penetrations of wind and solar on the grid in the western United States has a negligible impact on the emissions associated with cycling thermal power plants, new research from the National Renewable Energy Research Laboratory published yesterday reveals. Read more

Cargill, TEVA Energy commission large-scale solar thermal system at California beef plant

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 17:42 (Solarserver)

Cargill (Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.) and TEVA Energy, LLC (Altamonte Springs, Florida, U.S.) commissioned the largest solar thermal system at a meat processing facility in Fresno, California, to pre-heat water used throughout the plant for food safety and sanitation purposes. The solar thermal system is coupled with an existing methane recovery system, and its performance is monitored in real time by TEVA, Cargill and the California state’s Solar Initiative (CSI) program through remote metering, as well as on-site monitoring equipment. Read more

Standard Solar and Solar Grid Storage complete commercial 402.3 kW PV micro-grid in Laurel, Maryland

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 17:37 (Solarserver)

Standard Solar (Rockville, MD, USA), in collaboration with Solar Grid Storage (Silver Spring, MD, USA) announced that construction is complete on the solar micro-grid project at Maryland-developer Konterra’s corporate headquarters in Laurel, MD, USA. The project is a grid-interactive energy storage system co-located with a new 1,368 panel solar photovoltaic (PV) array, one of the first commercial scale micro-grids in the United States. Read more

International Energy Agency rewards Drake Landing Solar Community for solar thermal heating, storage

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 17:26 (Solarserver)

The Drake Landing Solar Community (Okotoks, Alberta, Canada) received the prestigious 2013 International Energy Agency (IEA) Solar Heating and Cooling (SHC) Programme Solar Award on September 25th, 2013.The prize honours significant achievements in solar thermal market development and reductions in market barriers. ATCO Gas and Sterling Homes (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada), which operates record setting solar heating and storage system for the community, accepted the award on behalf of the partners, including the Town of Okotoks and United Communities. Read more

Chile has 127MW of PV projects under development

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 17:15 (PV-Tech)

A Chilean renewable energy research institute report revealed that Chile has reached 127MW in capacity of solar projects under development. Read more

A Community Solar Gold Standard?

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 17:14 (Renewable Energy World)

Joy Hughes was living in the San Luis Valley of Colorado, a place with a “tremendous amount of solar potential,” so good that the valley’s residents were being overwhelmed by proposals for large scale solar power plants. One had a “field of things like radar dishes” and another included a “600 foot tower.” The influx of outside companies seeking so Read more

Rebuttal: Solar Heating Misconceptions

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 16:28 (Renewable Energy World)

Recently Renewable Energy World published an article entitled "Solar Hot Water: Which is Better PV or Thermal?" The piece argues that the reduced cost of solar photovoltaics (PV), in combination with certain advantages of air source heat pump water heaters, have made heating water with medium temperature solar collectors obsolete. Read more

INRG wins permission for 16MW solar farm on former airbase site

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 15:38 (Solarpowerportal)

Photovoltaics installation firm INRG Solar has won the go ahead for a 16MW solar park on the site of a disused World War II airfield in Buckinghamshire. Read more

Ivanpah CSP plant connects to grid for first time

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 15:15 (PV-Tech)

Ivanpah, the world’s largest thermal solar power plant, hit a milestone target yesterday by generating power that was fed into the grid for the first time. Read more

Innotech Solar partners with electrical distributor

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 15:11 (PV-Tech)

European module manufacturer Innotech Solar has partnered European sales with German-based electronics distributor, FEGA and Schmitt. Read more

EnergyTrend: Ongoing closure of Japanese nuclear plants to drive solar PV market growth

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 15:06 (Solarserver)

TrendForce's (Taipei City, Taiwan) EnergyTrend division says that the ongoing closure of nuclear power plants in Japan is driving a strong market for renewable energy, including solar photovoltaics (PV), and estimates that up to 7 GW of PV will be installed in the nation during 2013. Read more

Silver State Solar project reduced to protect desert tortoise

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 14:15 (PV-Tech)

The Silver State South project has been issued an environmental statement released from the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to downsize by 100MW due to environmental concerns. Read more

SolarWorld, CASM “skeptical” of SEIA solution to U.S.-China trade war

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 14:11 (Solarserver)

SolarWorld AG's (Bonn, Germany) U.S. subsidiary and pro-tariff trade group Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing (CASM) have expressed concern over a proposal by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA, Washington D.C.) for a compromise in the U.S.-China trade war. Read more

Green light for second solar farm on Dorset recycling facility

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 13:22 (Solarpowerportal)

Sustainable development company Eco Sustainable Solutions has gained planning permission for a 35MW solar farm in Dorset’s Green Belt. Read more

India To Build "Ultra Mega" Solar Power Plant

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 12:50 (Renewable Energy World)

India’s government has unveiled plans to build an “ultra mega” 4 GW solar power plant in the northwestern state of Rajasthan. Read more

REC shareholders approve spin-off of solar division

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 9:17 (Solarserver)

Renewable Energy Corporation ASA's (REC, Sandvika, Norway) shareholders have approved the separation of REC's solar division, and the renaming of the remaining company to REC Silicon ASA. REC has offered one share in REC Solar for each 58 REC shares held by existing shareholders, and REC Solar will keep the REC brand and trademark. The company states that it will be easier for the two separate companies to attract capital, and notes that REC Solar will be one of the few debt-free PV manufacturers. Read more

ClearSky: Australian solar PV capacities to continue to grow despite policy changes

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 9:12 (Solarserver)

ClearSky Advisors (Toronto) reports that low prices for solar photovoltaic (PV) installations and the growth of the commercial and utility-scale sectors will allow Australia's PV sector to grow 70-100% by 2017, despite the closure of feed-in tariffs in many Australian states. The Australian market has traditionally been dominated by the residential sector. The company estimates that Australian residential PV system prices are now at USD 2 per watt, resulting in payback periods of 5-8 years under “buyback schemes”, also known as net metering. Read more

Solar Power and Energy Storage: Pairing Technologies Vital to Our Future

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 9:00 (Renewable Energy World)

As the world’s electricity demand grows, it’s imperative that we cut polluting emissions. Solar electricity is meeting an increasingly-significant percentage of global energy demand. Smart, consistent long-term solar policies, such as the investment tax credit (ITC) and renewable portfolio standards, and industry innovations in technology and financing, have made solar a bright spot in our economy. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) forecasts that 5.2 gigawatts of new solar electric capacity will come online in 2013. Our industry stands ready to accelerate solar deployment, producing many gigawatts of clean, emissions-free electricity. Read more

IHS dismisses “fabless” manufacturing in the solar PV industry, says equipment spending is poised to recover

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 8:50 (Solarserver)

IHS Inc. (Englewood, Colorado, U.S.) has argued that the solar photovoltaic (PV) cell and module industry is unlikely to move to a business model where excess production is outsourced to competitors. Instead, it maintains its earlier prediction that PV equipment spending will begin to recover in 2014. The company's dismissal of “fabless” manufacturing is likely a response to NPD Solarbuzz Inc.'s (Santa Clara, California, U.S.) criticism of IHS' work, in which Solarbuzz stated that PV equipment investment was unlikely to recover in the near term, with manufacturers instead employing this strategy. Read more

SEIA proposes compromise to end U.S.-China solar trade war

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 8:39 (Solarserver)

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA, Washington D.C.) is offering a compromise for the U.S. and Chinese solar photovoltaic (PV) industries, which it says could serve as the centerpiece for a negotiated settlement of outstanding issues. Through the compromise, Chinese companies would create a fund to benefit U.S. PV manufacturers directly and to help grow the U.S. market, and both nations would end ongoing trade investigations and phase out existing tariffs. It would also include measures to prevent a surge of Chinese PV products into the U.S. market. Read more

Sempra U.S. Gas & Power and ConEdison Development become equal partners in solar power facilities

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 8:31 (Solarserver)

Sempra U.S. Gas & Power (San Diego, USA) and Consolidated Edison Development (ConEdison Development, New York, USA) announced a joint venture on two of Sempra U.S. Gas & Power's solar power facilities, the 150-megawatt Copper Mountain Solar 2 plant near Las Vegas and the 150-MW Mesquite Solar 1 plant near Phoenix. As equal partners in these two projects, each company will own a 50% interest in each of the solar facilities. Read more

Analyst: US SunShot's Goals Unacheivable Even With New Solar Technologies

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 4:30 (Renewable Energy World)

Solar PV technologies based on crystalline silicon are the current leaders in today's solar market, but it's becoming clear they won't achieve the U.S. Department of Energy's SunShot Initiative's goals of $1 per Watt installed for utility-scale projects by 2020. What's needed is more development work in pushing today's silicon PV into new directions, plus alternative cell architectures and technologies, according to a new analysis by Lux Research. Read more

US Army Corps Announces Additional Geothermal MATOC Award

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 14:58 (Renewable Energy World)

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Engineer Support Center, based in Huntsville, Ala., this week announced a new contract for use of geothermal technology as part of the Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC) series for renewable and alternative energy production work orders at Department of Defense (DOD) installations. Read more

Study finds power plant cycling of wind and solar provides negligible CO2 increases

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 15:15 (PV-Tech)

The variability of electricity supply from wind and solar is more than compensated for by the overall savings in fuel cost incurred by using renewables instead of conventional generation, according to research published by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Read more

Next German government is likely to support renewables, says German Renewable Energy Foundation

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 14:15 (PV-Tech)

The German Renewable Energy Foundation (BEE) and analyst Henning Wicht of IHS both agree that the next government of Germany is likely to support renewable energy - but at present uncertainties remain as to what form this support will take. Read more

India and Chile to cooperate on renewable energy development

Wednesday, 9.25.2013 - 8:59 (Solarserver)

India and Chile have agreed to enhance their cooperation in the field of renewable energy. Indian Minister of New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah and the Chilean Energy Minister Jorge Bunster aim to explore greater opportunities for collaboration between the two countries. According to Farooq Abdullah, India currently has over 30 GW of grid-connected installed capacity using solar photovoltaics (PV) and other renewable sources of energy, and plans to add over 30 GW capacity by 2018. He also emphasizes the success of India’s wind programme as well as the significant cost reductions in solar energy through the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). Read more