Europe’s largest battery storage project is operational: 10 MWh Smarter Network Storage at Leighton Buzzard substation in the UK

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 9:37 (Solarserver)

Together with partners S&C Electric and Samsung SDI, Younicos (Berlin, Germany) deployed Europe’s largest intelligent network storage project for grid operator UK Power Networks. The fully automated 6 MW/10 MWh Smarter Network Storage (SNS) has been installed at the Leighton Buzzard primary substation north-west of London. Read more

Hanergy announces construction of a 300 MW CIGS thin film PV production line in Hunan Province, China

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 9:33 (Solarserver)

Hanergy Thin Film Power Group Limited (Hong Kong) announced an investment in the construction of a 300 megawatt (MW) flexible CIGS thin film production line in the Economic Development Zone of Changde City, Hunan Province, PRC, by Beijing Jing Cheng, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company. Hanergy expects that construction of the factory will be completed by June 2016. Read more

Heliatek enters the Chinese market with the world's first BIOPV concrete façade installation

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 7:03 (Solarserver)

Heliatek GmbH (Dresden, Germany) has delivered the first building integrated organic solar photovoltaic (BIOPV) films to China. The “HeliaFilms” were installed at the premises of Reckli China in PuDong, Shanghai. They were directly integrated to concrete façade elements provided by Reckli (Herne, Germany) a long-term strategic business partner of Heliatek, becoming the world's first BIOPV concrete façade installation. Read more

SunPower invests USD 20 million in Tendril to bring smart energy solutions to market

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 6:52 (Solarserver)

SunPower Corp. (San Jose, California, US) and Tendril, Inc. (Boulder, Colorado, US) on December 15th, 2014 announced that SunPower has invested USD 20 million of growth capital into Tendril and will license its Energy Services Management (ESM) Platform software. Enhanced by SunPower's vast amount of solar related data, the ESM Platform will power the development of new smart energy applications for a broader set of consumers and utilities, the partners announced. Read more

On-grid residential PV storage trial in Australia gets funding from ARENA

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 17:25 (PV-Tech)

The Australian government’s renewable energy division will trial the capabilities of on-grid energy storage to maximise the value of rooftop solar, announcing yesterday that it will provide funding for a trial by energy storage specialist Reposit Power. Read more

Spreading the Solar Cheer: Reaching Low-Income Customers

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 16:30 (Renewable Energy World)

Heating and cooling are not “nice-to-haves” in most areas of the U.S. – they are a necessity. However, this basic need creates a disproportionate burden on low-income families. Statistics vary on how much low-income families typically spend on their energy bills, but it’s in the range of 6-20 percent of their annual income, much higher than the nat Read more

Is India's Grand Solar Vision Becoming Reality?

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 15:56 (Renewable Energy World)

India’s solar PV ambitions, as first broadly stated in the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), have always been considered perhaps just a little bit too ambitious. Even when the programme was first introduced in 2010, hitting a proposed target of 20 GW installed by 2022 was deemed somewhat unlikely given the structural and economic challenges that India faces. Read more

SunEdison closes additional USD 117 million solar PV fund with Barclays, Citi in the U.S.

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 14:52 (Solarserver)

SunEdison, Inc. (Belmont, Calf.) on December 16th, 2014 announced that is has closed its second fund for distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) generation projects in the United States with Barclays and Citi. The lease pass-through fund is valued at USD 117 million, and follows on the Barclays and Citi fund closed earlier this year. This brings the aggregate value of funds closed this year with Barclays and Citi for SunEdison and TerraForm Power's distributed generation projects to USD 290 million. Read more

Canadian Solar completes sale of 10 MW RayLight PV plant to Concord Pacific Energy

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 14:46 (Solarserver)

Canadian Solar Inc. (Guelph, Ontario) on Decembere 16th, 2014 announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Canadian Solar Solutions Inc., completed the sale of the 10 MW (AC) RayLight solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant valued at over CSD 65 million (USD 56 million) to One West Holdings Ltd., an affiliate of Concord Green Energy Inc. The RayLight solar power plant is located in the Township of Tay, Ontario and uses Canadian Solar's MaxPower CS6X-300/305P panels made in Canada. Read more

China billionaire and sportswear brand invest in SPI Solar

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 12:04 (PV-Tech)

A Chinese billionaire and one of the countries’ leading sportswear brands have invested US$140 million in project developer, SPI Solar. Read more

ET Solar to build 40MW solar power plant in Israel

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 12:00 (PV-Tech)

China’s ET Solar is to begin work building a 40MW solar power plant in Israel. Read more

SEIA board facing call to resign over stance on US-China trade spat

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 11:23 (PV-Tech)

The CEO and board of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) must resign over its position in the US-China trade row, according to the largest privately held installer in the US. Read more

Abundance and Solarcentury partner to offer direct investment in commercial solar rooftops

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 11:15 (Solarpowerportal)

London-based PV developer, Solarcentury has partnered with ethical investment platform, Abundance to allow businesses to benefit from solar panels and enable stakeholders to directly invest in the installation. Read more

Honduras continues solar push as 61MW project hits the ground

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 10:56 (PV-Tech)

Construction has begun on a 61MW solar power plant in Honduras. Read more

China set for 7.5GW of deployment in Q4

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 10:22 (PV-Tech)

A late surge in deployment in China will see the Asia-Pacific region top the 10GW mark inside one quarter for the first time, according research by Solarbuzz. Read more

Solarbuzz: Year-end rush in China leads Asia-Pacific PV market to new record level in Q4, 2014

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 9:52 (Solarserver)

Solar photovoltaic (PV) demand in Asia-Pacific is poised to continue strong growth in the next years, despite challenges encountered by some countries, according to the latest Solarbuzz “Asia Pacific Major PV Markets Quarterly” report. Quarterly PV demand in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is forecast to reach the 10 gigawatt (GW) level for the first time in Q4, 2014, Solarbuzz (Santa Clara, California, US) reports. According to the market research company, annual APAC PV demand in 2014 is forecast to grow 19% Y/Y, driven mainly by a year-end installation rush in China, as well as strong growth in Japan. Read more

South Carolina becomes 44th U.S. state with solar PV net metering

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 7:16 (Solarserver)

In the final weeks of 2014, The Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC, San Francisco, CA, US) secured solar photovoltaic (PV) net metering for South Carolina. With this expansion, South Carolina became the 44th state to institute net metering. This victory also came on the same day as a significant net metering cap expansion in New York. Despite utility attempts to eliminate rooftop PV across the country, TASC delivered seven net metering expansions in 2014 and zero retractions. Read more

Africa's Largest Wind Farm Moves Forward

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 16:43 (Renewable Energy World)

Vestas Wind Systems A/S won an order to supply what the company says will be Africa’s biggest wind- power plant in a sign that clean-energy investments are picking up on the poorest continent. Read more

Enel Green Power France mulls offer for 310MW renewables portfolio

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 17:26 (PV-Tech)

Québec-based power producer, Boralex has made an offer to acquire Enel Green Power’s French subsidiary. Read more

Kingspan: 2018 commercial EPC E requirement a ticking time bomb

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 16:31 (Solarpowerportal)

Kingspan’s Liam McDaniel says that 2018’s energy bill is a ticking time bomb – but one that can be diffused with proper mitigation. Read more

Will States Take Over Demand Response Markets in the US?

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 16:23 (Renewable Energy World)

How will demand response (DR) be compensated in wholesale energy markets under NY’s Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) initiative in the wake of the DC Circuit Court’s decision vacating Order 745, and how will the bulk system respond to cuts in peak demand with the growth of distributed energy generation (DEG)? How will FERC’s role change as regulat Read more

Japan's Prime Minister Re-Election Risks Undercutting Clean Energy Push

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 16:06 (Renewable Energy World)

Shinzo Abe’s re-election as prime minister risks undercutting Japan’s commitment to clean energy at a time when incentives are under review and the nation’s utilities say they can’t accommodate capacity already planned. Read more

California Energy Commission awards Eos Energy Storage with USD 2.1 million for battery demonstration project

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 14:34 (Solarserver)

Eos Energy Storage (New York) on December 16th, 2014 announced plans to demonstrate its novel grid-scale battery system at PG&E’s Smart Grid Lab in San Ramon, Calif., with the support of a USD 2.1 million award from the California Energy Commission (CEC). Eos has developed a safe, long-lasting Aurora battery system that can be manufactured at a fraction of the cost of existing energy storage solutions, the company notes. Read more

SunPower pumps US$20 million into software firm

Tuesday, 12.16.2014 - 10:20 (PV-Tech)

SunPower has invested US$20 million into energy management software firm Tendril. Read more