Yingli’s southern Chinese JV develops 100MW in just four years

Friday, 1.31.2014 - 12:28 (PV-Tech)

Chinese tier one manufacturer Yingli Green announced this week that its joint venture (JV) Hainan Solar Power has now developed in excess of 100MW of photovoltaic (PV) projects in Hainan Province, China. Read more

Rewriting the Solar Energy Rules in One Small Town

Friday, 1.31.2014 - 17:18 (Renewable Energy World)

What will be far and away New Hampshire's largest solar energy system is beginning to take shape in the town of Peterborough. Its story could inspire other municipalities searching for answers to infrastructure and energy problems, and it could also help rewrite the state's new policies on energy and net metering. Read more

UK installs 1.00 GW of solar PV in 2013

Friday, 1.31.2014 - 16:06 (Solarserver)

The UK installed 1.00 GW of solar photovoltaics (PV) in 2013, according to statistics released by the nation's Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). This is a 41% market growth over the 711 MW installed in 2012, and brings the nation to 2.71 GW to date. Read more

Super Bowl Solar: NFL Stadiums Produce Onsite Energy with PV Projects

Friday, 1.31.2014 - 16:06 (Renewable Energy World)

On February 2, MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, will host Super Bowl XLVIII. During the game, aerial footage will likely show 916 external LED fixtures powered by 1,350 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels with a total generating capacity of 276 kilowatts (kW). Read more

Iowa Environmental Council calls for State solar push

Friday, 1.31.2014 - 15:22 (PV-Tech)

The Iowa Environmental Council has released a report to highlight the state’s solar energy potential in comparison to its current low installation rate. Read more

Canadian Solar becomes leading foreign solar PV brand in Japan with 7% market share

Friday, 1.31.2014 - 14:53 (Solarserver)

Canadian Solar Inc. (Guelph, Canada) reports that it has shipped 508 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules into the Japanese market under its own brand in 2013. The company says that this makes it the largest foreign PV module brand in Japan, with an estimated 7% share of the total market. Read more

Solarbuzz: PV capex set to bounce back in 2015

Friday, 1.31.2014 - 14:19 (PV-Tech)

Equipment suppliers serving the PV manufacturing sector are expected to see a new cycle of capital expenditure begin early next year that could reach US$10 billion by 2017, according to NPD Solarbuzz. Read more

Canadian Solar strengthens position in Japan

Friday, 1.31.2014 - 13:52 (PV-Tech)

Canadian Solar has announced that it will open two new business centres in Japan, describing the country as a key market for the company, having taken an estimated 7% market share. Read more

150MW Zimbabwe solar project edges closer to approval

Friday, 1.31.2014 - 13:45 (PV-Tech)

Plans to build a 150MW solar farm in Zimbabwe are nearing approval, according to the companies involved in its development. Read more

IET survey reveals 9% of Brits considering solar

Friday, 1.31.2014 - 13:38 (Solarpowerportal)

A survey carried out by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has discovered that 9% of households in the UK are considering installing solar. Read more

Naked Energy secures £1 million of grant funding for hybrid solar panel

Friday, 1.31.2014 - 12:51 (Solarpowerportal)

Naked Energy has secured €1.3 million (£1 million) of funding to further the development of its hybrid solar module, Virtu. Read more

STR Holdings sales rebound

Friday, 1.31.2014 - 12:49 (PV-Tech)

Specialist encapsulant supplier, STR Holdings, has said it expects fourth quarter 2013 sales to have slightly exceeded the prior quarter levels, indicating a reversal in its downward sales trajectory after losing First Solar as its major customer at the end of 2012. Read more

BNEF predicts 44–51 GW global solar PV market in 2014, rebound in clean energy investment

Friday, 1.31.2014 - 9:10 (Solarserver)

Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF, New York City) CEO Michael Liebreich has released his predictions for 2014, including a rebound in clean energy investment boosted by falling prices for solar photovoltaics (PV). BNEF forecasts a 2014 global PV market of 44-51 GW, on the high end of recent forecasts. Liebreich also predicts a rise in “access charges” for PV generation in the U.S. and other nations, similar to the charge imposed on net metered systems in Arizona in November 2013. Read more

India solar: MOU signed for 4 GW solar PV project in Rajasthan

Friday, 1.31.2014 - 9:05 (Solarserver)

Six state-owned Indian companies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to form a joint venture (JV) to build a 4 GW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant near a salt lake in the Indian state of Rajasthan. The plant will occupy 93 square kilometers and will be the largest PV plant in the world. Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (New Delhi) will lead the JV with a 26% share and will supply equipment. Solar Energy Corporation of India will own a 23% share, and will sell the electricity generated. Hindustan Salts Ltd. (Jaipur, India), with a 16% share, will supply the land bordering Sambhar Lake near Jaipur. Read more

A123 to supply 1 MW battery system to accompany solar PV plant in Japan

Friday, 1.31.2014 - 8:59 (Solarserver)

A123 Energy Solutions (Westborough, Massachusetts, U.S.) has announced that it will supply, install and commission a 1 MW, 2.8 MWh battery-based energy storage system for IHI Corp. (Tokyo, Japan). The company's Long Duration Grid Battery System (GBS-LD) will accompany a solar photovoltaic (PV) plant at an IHI factory in the Tohoku Region of northern Japan, and help to reduce the factory's overall load. At the time of writing this system was being installed at the IHI factory. Read more

Wind Turbine Maintenance: Protecting Your Investment

Friday, 1.31.2014 - 16:04 (Renewable Energy World)

Wind power capacity in the U.S. has been steadily climbing recently. Wind farms were the leading source of new power generation in the county in 2012, representing around $25 billion in investments. Although uncertainty about the federal production tax credit slowed growth in 2013, renewable portfolio standards and an overall interest in new sources of clean energy indicate wind power will continue to be an important source of generation in the U.S. for the future. Read more

Army Disposal Experts Lend Expertise to Offshore Wind Turbine Industry

Friday, 1.31.2014 - 14:36 (Renewable Energy World)

Army disposal experts are drawing on knowhow in handling hazards from improvised explosive devices to unearthed bombs to detect threats to offshore wind projects from millions of tons of World War II-era ordnance dumped at sea. Read more

Wacker restructures polysilicon deal with customer, boost to Q1 results from charges

Friday, 1.31.2014 - 9:02 (Solarserver)

Wacker Chemie AG (Munich, Germany) reports that it has restructured a polysilicon supply deal with an un-named customer, with changes to volumes and prices. The company expects to recognize income from retained advance payments and damages as a result of this change, which will increase its first quarter operating result by roughly EUR 115 million (USD 160 million). Read more

How Many Electric Utilities Does A Market Need?

Friday, 1.31.2014 - 14:30 (Renewable Energy World)

Del Mar, population ~4,100, is an affluent beach city just north of San Diego. Solana Beach, also on the ocean and just north of Del Mar has ~12,000 residents. Carmel Valley is a master-planned adjoining community with a population of ~40,000. Can Del Mar, Solana Beach, and Carmel Valley each have their own micro-electric utility (MEU), providing cleaner, cheaper, and more reliable power than the current San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E)? Can Carmel Valley have four or five MEUs, and the city of San Diego one hundred? Read more

The State of Renewables Is Strong and Congress Needs to Keep It That Way

Friday, 1.31.2014 - 14:29 (Renewable Energy World)

In his State of the Union speech, President Obama reaffirmed our country’s moral obligation to protect our kids from the dangers of climate change. And in doing that, he gave a shout-out to one of America’s fastest-growing industries, a critical tool in this fight—solar power: “Every four minutes,” he observed, “another American home or business goes solar — every panel pounded into place by a worker whose job can’t be outsourced.” Read more

Daqo ramping polysilicon plant after removing bottlenecks

Friday, 1.31.2014 - 13:11 (PV-Tech)

Daqo New Energy has completed the debottlenecking project at its Xinjiang, China located polysilicon plant, which has started ramping to its expected nameplate capacity of 6,150MT. Read more