PREIT to install 1,600 kW rooftop PV system at Cherry Hill Mall, New Jersey

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 9:13 (Solarserver)

Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment (Philadelphia) on October 1st, 2014 announced that it has entered into an agreement with Safari Energy, a leading provider of solar energy solutions, to install more than 5,000 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on the rooftop of Cherry Hill Mall, in Cherry Hill, NJ. Under the terms of the agreement, Safari will develop, finance and build the project, and PREIT will receive lease income and also benefit from reduced electricity costs. Read more

pi4 announces orders for PV module inspection systems from Mexico, India, France and South Africa

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 7:09 (Solarserver)

pi4_robotics GmbH (Berlin, Germany), specialized in quality testing and monitoring systems for solar photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturing, on September 30th, 2014 announced several orders for electroluminescence testers from Mexico, India, France and South Africa in the third quarter of 2014. From Mexico alone came an order of six fully automated EL inspection systems. Read more

SmartFlex builds manufacturing factory in Lithuania

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 0:06 (PV-Tech)

SmartFlex, a three-year project part-funded by the EU, has completed a factory that will manufacture individually-designed solar facades. Read more

SmartFlex builds manufacturing plant in Lithuania

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 0:06 (PV-Tech)

SmartFlex, a three-year project part-funded by the EU, has completed a factory that will manufacture individually-designed solar facades. Read more

The Six Principles of Distributed Solar Policy and Rate Design

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 23:37 (Renewable Energy World)

With distributed solar generation (DSG) and energy efficiency applications becoming more accessible and affordable, we are seeing an increased adoption of technologies that manage and reduce customers’ use of electricity from the grid. States nationwide are grappling with what this new energy paradigm means for utility regulation and rate design. Read more

China Solar Funds Boost Global Clean Energy Spending to $175 Billion

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 16:07 (Renewable Energy World)

About $175 billion was spent globally on renewable energy projects during the first three quarters, up 16 percent from the same period last year, with Chinese solar investment at a record, according to a Bloomberg New Energy Finance report. Read more

Register now for the Lightsource Renewable Energy installers workshop at Solar Energy UK conference

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 15:01 (Solarpowerportal)

Lightsource Renewable Energy, the UK’s largest solar energy generator, is set to build a nationwide partnership with local solar PV installers as it looks to expand its rooftop portfolio. Read more

Industry reacts to RO closure for >5MW solar in 2015 and CfD budget

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 13:28 (Solarpowerportal)

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has confirmed plans to remove renewable obligation (RO) support for solar developments over 5MW from April 2015. Read more

Hybrid 56MW solar and wind project begins commercial operation in Japan

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 13:14 (PV-Tech)

A hybrid solar and wind farm with a combined generation capacity of 56MW, built by a consortium of companies including Mitsui Chemical and Toshiba in Japan has begun commercial operation. Read more

UK confirms cuts to large-scale solar support

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 12:58 (PV-Tech)

The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has confirmed that it will scrap support for solar over 5MW from April 2015. Read more

NPD Solarbuzz lowers UK installation forecast

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 12:29 (PV-Tech)

Proposed changes to large-scale PV incentives by UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has led to a slowdown in installations, forcing market research firm, NPD Solarbuzz to lower its market demand forecast for the country. Read more

US$500 million for Moroccan CSP plant

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 10:55 (PV-Tech)

Morocco has secured a US$519 million loan from the World Bank to finance the second phase of the 500MW Noor concentrated solar power project near the southern city of Ouarzazate. Read more

BNEF: Global clean energy investment sustains its recovery with solar PV boom in China as biggest single contributor

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 10:44 (Solarserver)

World clean energy investment in the first three quarters of 2014 was 16% ahead of the same period of 2013, at USD 175.1 billion, making it almost certain that 2014 will produce a bounce-back in dollars invested after two years of decline. Authoritative figures published on October 2nd, 2014 by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, based on its real-time data transactions and projects, show that clean energy investment in the July-to-September quarter was USD 55 billion, up 12% from the USD 48.9 billion achieved in Q3 2013. The third quarter is generally weaker than the second quarter, as it was this year, with the Q3 total 16% down on a strong USD 65.2 billion in Q2 2014. Read more

AllEarth Renewables, Claire Solar Partners complete 2.2 MW solar PV tracker farm in Vermont

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 10:19 (Solarserver)

AllEarth Renewables (Williston, Vermont, US) and Claire Solar Partners (Burlington, VT) on September 29th, 2014 announced the completion of a 2.2 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) tracker farm in South Burlington. JA Solar (Shanghai, China) provided multi-crystalline 260 watt PID resistant PV modules for the project. Read more

DECC confirms RO closure for solar over 5MW

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 10:15 (Solarpowerportal)

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has confirmed that it will scrap support for solar over 5MW from April 2015 in its consultation response published on Tuesday. Read more

US DOE announces USD 25 million to lower cost of concentrating solar power

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 9:37 (Solarserver)

Building on the Obama Administration’s Climate Action Plan, the Energy Department on October 1st, 2014 announced USD 25 million in funding to advance concentrating solar power (CSP) system technologies. This investment will fund research and development (R&D) projects to improve the performance and increase the efficiency of all components of CSP plants, ultimately lowering the cost of solar electricity and producing affordable, clean and renewable energy, even at night, by storing the heat generated by the sun. Read more

CVEC and partners dedicate solar PV arrays on capped landfills in New England totaling 22 MW

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 9:31 (Solarserver)

The Cape & Vineyard Electric Cooperative (CVEC, Barnstable, MA, US), the Town of Dennis, Clean Focus and American Capital Energy dedicated the largest solar development in New England, Cape & Vineyard Solar One - a 22 MW portfolio of solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays located on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard. Cape and Vineyard Solar One includes CVEC Round 1 PV plus an additional array in the Town of Dennis. Combined, the solar power from this PV plants will supply 45% of Cape Cod & Martha’s Vineyard municipal electrical load. Read more

Martifer Solar adds close to 90 MW to its Italian solar PV O&M portfolio

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 7:15 (Solarserver)

Martifer Solar (Oliveira de Frades, Portugal), a subsidiary of Martifer SGPS, has added close to 90 MW of new third party O&M contracts to its portfolio in Italy. The solar photovoltaic (PV) plants are located throughout the country and are being supervised for several prestigious Clients, including well-known asset fund managers DIF and the private equity fund, Eland. Read more

Ascent Solar announces new distributor for EnerPlex PV products in the UK

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 6:57 (Solarserver)

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (Thornton, Colo., US) a developer and manufacturer of flexible thin-film photovoltaic (PV) modules integrated into the company's “EnerPlex” series of consumer products, on October 1st, 2014 announced the company signed Peak Development Ltd. as the preferred distributor to large retailers for EnerPlex products in the United Kingdom. Read more

Will Lithium Ion Work for Grid-Scale Storage?

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 16:23 (Renewable Energy World)

Lithium batteries have revolutionized consumer electronics and made EVs a mainstream reality. But will they play a similar role in energy storage? That was one of the most prominent questions at Energy Storage North America, the second annual conference taking place this week in San Jose. “Lithium ion was not fundamentally designed for grid scale s Read more

STA launches scathing attack on Coalition’s ‘damaging decisions’ on solar

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 12:53 (Solarpowerportal)

The Solar Trade Association has said that a raft of critical decisions published on Thursday are ‘particularly damaging’ for the UK solar industry, describing the move to scrap RO support as “unfair and unjustified discrimination”. Read more

Is Distributed Energy Storage the Energiewende’s Missing Link?

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 15:43 (Renewable Energy World)

For years, critics of the Energiewende, Germany’s clean-energy transition, have carped that the country’s power system cannot be based on intermittent generation sources — namely onshore wind and solar PV — without advanced storage technology to balance supply and demand. In Germany, battery storage has come a long way fast, and a year ago the German government started the first-ever subsidy program to support storage systems for homes, businesses, and public institutions, like schools. Yet the program has been slow to catch on, and observers maintain that its long-term impact on the Energiewende as such will be minimal. Read more

BNEF: China dominated US$55 billion of global clean energy investment in Q3

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 12:16 (PV-Tech)

Driven to a greater extent by a “solar boom,” China contributed US$19.9 billion to a global total of US$55 billion invested in clean energy in the third quarter of this year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). Read more

Juwi completes PV-diesel hybrid projects in Maldives

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 12:13 (PV-Tech)

Project developer juwi has completed a number of PV-diesel hybrid installations in the climate change threatened Maldives. Read more

EPIA: A cost-effective energy transition requires streamlined regulation; PV can contribute to the management and security of the power system

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 10:29 (Solarserver)

PV GRID and REserviceS, two projects in which the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) has been actively involved, have presented outstanding results during their respective final events on September 29th and 30th, 2014 in Brussels. Opportunities and solutions for large-scale deployment of renewables, such as solar photovoltaics (PV), have been identified and discussed with over 150 participants. Read more

New plug and play energy storage standard announced by SunSpec and MESA

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 10:11 (Solarserver)

The SunSpec Alliance (SunSpec) and the MESA Standards Alliance (MESA) have jointly released the first open, non-proprietary energy storage system specification for public review. The specification referred to as “SunSpec Energy Storage Models Specification” and incorporated in MESA specifications as a “MESA-Device”, was developed through a joint effort and proposes standards for how the different components of an energy storage system (power meters, power conversion systems, and batteries) communicate with one another. Read more

RGS Energy departs from large-scale commercial services

Thursday, 10.2.2014 - 1:01 (PV-Tech)

Embattled solar energy company RGS Energy has announced that it will withdraw from the large-scale commercial market focus on smaller, residential-level ventures. Read more