Does A European PV Fab Make Sense?

Friday, 1.17.2014 - 23:39 (Renewable Energy World)

Reports came out this week that Germany, France, Switzerland, and possibly other European nations are mulling a plan to pool efforts and establish a combined massive-scale solar cell manufacturing operation, inspired by the aerospace consortium Airbus. The concept has been kicked around for a few years now, most recently at last fall's EU PVSEC con Read more

PV producer CECEP meets Chinese government efficiency goals using Applied Baccini Esatto technology

Friday, 1.17.2014 - 8:47 (Solarserver)

CECEP Solar Energy Technology Co. Ltd. (Zhenjiang, China) has produced an 18.32% efficient multicrystalline silicon solar photovoltaic (PV) cell using Applied Materials Inc.'s (Santa Clara, California, U.S.) Baccini Esatto printing technology. Using Esatto Fine Line Double Printing (FLDP), CECEP was able to achieve a 0.2% cell efficiency gain over its baseline. This has allowed the company to meet recent Chinese government requirements to qualify for capacity expansions. Read more

What If You Went Solar and Nobody Noticed? Spotlight Solar Has an Answer

Friday, 1.17.2014 - 19:17 (Renewable Energy World)

Normally I don’t write about solar products, since this blog is devoted to solar marketing and solar advocacy. But I’m making the exception this week for Spotlight Solar. Spotlight’s not a typical BIPV solution, but a working aesthetic solar structure that’s also a green PR solution that calls attention to hidden solar. For example, say you're the Read more

U.K. Solar, Wind to Compete Head-to-Head With Solar Under Auction Plans

Friday, 1.17.2014 - 16:54 (Renewable Energy World)

The U.K. plans to force onshore wind developers to compete head-to-head for the first time with solar generators when they bid for green power subsidies as the nation seeks to reduce the cost of renewable energy for consumers. Read more

UK sidelined as French President calls for ‘Airbus’ approach for solar industry

Friday, 1.17.2014 - 16:08 (Solarpowerportal)

France’s President Francois Hollande has called for an ‘Airbus’ style model of collaboration for the European solar industry. Read more

OCI breaks ground on 39 MW solar PV plant in Texas

Friday, 1.17.2014 - 15:00 (Solarserver)

OCI Solar Power LLC (San Antonio, Texas, U.S.) has begun construction work on its third solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in Texas, which will have 39 MW of capacity when complete. OCI expects to complete the Alamo 4 plant by the end of the year. Read more

Sun Still Rising on Residential Solar

Friday, 1.17.2014 - 14:42 (Renewable Energy World)

There is much evidence pointing to a rosy future for residential solar.  High retail utility rates provide a compelling reason for homeowners to go solar while residential installation costs continue to drop.  Many of our partners claim that residential system development is more profitable than commercial development. Even solar developers that hi Read more

French President calls for ‘Airbus’ style Euro solar manufacturer

Friday, 1.17.2014 - 14:38 (PV-Tech)

France’s President Francois Hollande has called for an ‘Airbus’ style model of collaboration for the European solar industry. Read more

Wirsol subsidiary to liquidate assets

Friday, 1.17.2014 - 14:36 (Solarserver)

A German district court has assigned provisional liquidator Steffen Rauschenbusch to oversee the sale of assets for Wirsol Solar Energy AG (Mannheim, Germany), a subsidiary of Wirsol Group (Waghaeusel, Germany). Wirsol Group and three subsidiaries entered insolvency in October 2013, with the aim of rehabilitating the company. Read more

UK large-scale solar to compete with other ‘established’ renewables for support

Friday, 1.17.2014 - 14:15 (PV-Tech)

The UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) wants ‘established’ renewables to compete against each other for support under its upcoming contracts for difference (CfD) regime. Read more

Utility-scale Solar Energy Myths Debunked by Industry Insider

Friday, 1.17.2014 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

An interview with SolarReserve CEO Kevin Smith may put to rest some of the more common misconceptions held about how renewable energy actually works in practice at utility scale. Read more

SolarCity: Energy storage is ‘inevitable’

Friday, 1.17.2014 - 13:34 (PV-Tech)

The coming of energy storage to electricity markets is “inevitable”, according to Eric Carlson, senior director of grid systems integration storage at US solar energy provider SolarCity. Read more

Solar to compete with other ‘established’ renewables for CfD support

Friday, 1.17.2014 - 13:12 (Solarpowerportal)

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) wants ‘established’ renewables to compete against each other for funding under the upcoming contracts for difference (CfDs) regime. Read more

Mountain View Solar begins commerical operation near Las Vegas

Friday, 1.17.2014 - 12:55 (PV-Tech)

NextEra Energy Resources’ 20MW Mountain View Solar Energy Project near Las Vegas has begun commercial operation. Read more

Wirsol assets to be auctioned following insolvency

Friday, 1.17.2014 - 12:55 (PV-Tech)

German PV system developer Wirsol’s fourth solar subsidiary has entered insolvency with some of the company’s assets now put up for auction. Read more

SEIA hosts ‘Shout Out For Solar’ social media campaign day

Friday, 1.17.2014 - 12:15 (PV-Tech)

Next Friday, 24 January, US trade group the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) hosts an online social media campaign day, ‘Shout Out For Solar’. Read more

Solarcentury and Santander partner for solar push

Friday, 1.17.2014 - 12:12 (Solarpowerportal)

Spanish bank Santander has agreed to provide an additional £16.5 million in facilities in order to help grow Solarcentury’s business in the UK and internationally. Read more

NPD Solarbuzz: Fastest growth among commercial building-mounted solar PV in U.S.

Friday, 1.17.2014 - 9:02 (Solarserver)

NPD Solarbuzz Inc. (Santa Clara, California, U.S.) forecasts that commercial building-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) systems will see the strongest growth rates of any U.S. market segment in 2014. The company predicts that small-scale U.S. commercial projects will grow 40% year-over-year, with large-scale commercial projects seeing a 70% growth over the same period. This is double to triple the rate projected for ground-mounted PV systems, the nation's largest market segment. Read more

India installs more than 1 GW of grid-tied solar PV, CSP in 2013

Friday, 1.17.2014 - 8:58 (Solarserver)

India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has published data which shows that the nation installed 1.004 GW of grid-tied solar photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) capacity in 2013, to bring it to a cumulative total of 2.18 GW. This 1.004 GW is within 1% of the 1.0 GW forecast by Mercom Capital LLC (Austin, Texas, U.S.) as early as August 2013. Solar now represents 7.3% of India's installed grid-tied renewable energy capacity, but less than 1% of overall capacity. Read more

Real Goods Solar completes acquisition of Mercury Solar

Friday, 1.17.2014 - 8:52 (Solarserver)

Real Goods Solar Inc. (Louisville, Colorado, U.S.) has completed its acquisition of solar integrator Mercury Solar Systems (Port Chester, New York, U.S.) in exchange for roughly 8.3 million shares of stock. In addition to physical assets, operational systems and its customer base, Mercury brings USD 12 million in working capital and more than 50 employees to Real Goods. Three of Mercury's executives will take VP positions in Real Goods and its commercial and utility division RGS Energy. Read more

Japan lifts the gloom of 2013 clean-tech investment slump

Friday, 1.17.2014 - 13:52 (PV-Tech)

Japan was one of the few countries to buck a trend that saw a 12% fall in global renewable energy and clean-tech investment in 2013, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Read more

Trident in Marine Control Technology Optimisation Breakthough

Friday, 1.17.2014 - 13:06 (Renewable Energy World)

Generator company Trident Energy has demonstrated real-time control of a low cost linear generator designed for wave energy applications. Read more