End Draws Near for Suntech, Shareholders

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 16:53 (Renewable Energy World)

The month of February could mark the final sunset for solar panel maker Suntech (OTC: STPFQ), with 2 major events on the calendar that look like the swansong for this former solar energy pioneer. If the ending does indeed come, it would be almost a year after Suntech first was forced into bankruptcy in a Chinese court in its home city of Wuxi, kick Read more

Tool Order: centrotherm received orders worth €30 million

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 16:52 (PV-Tech)

PV equipment supplier, centrotherm photovoltaics said that in December, 2013 and January, 2014 new order intake had totaled around €30 million. Read more

Court orders one Suntech subsidiary to pay another subsidiary USD 264 million

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 8:28 (Solarserver)

As the latest in the ongoing drama of Suntech's collapse, the High Court of Singapore has ordered the Singapore subsidiary of Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (Wuxi, China) to pay fellow Suntech subsidiary Power Solar System Co. Ltd. (PSS, Wuxi, China) USD 264 million, plus 5.33% interest and costs. The court determined that Suntech Singapore owed PSS the USD 264 million, and Suntech Singapore failed to enter an appearance in the time frame allowed. PSS is currently in liquidation, and the company's liquidator says that it will enforce recovery, as well as expanding recovery actions to other Suntech subsidiaries. Read more

US Appeals to WTO: Stop India's Solar Domestic Content Provisions

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 21:36 (Renewable Energy World)

Almost exactly one year to the day after launching an initial probe into India's solar energy policies, the U.S. yesterday officially followed through by filing a petition with the World Trade Organization challenging domestic content provisions within India's "Phase II" of its National Solar Mission (NSM). Technically, as a formal first step the U.S. has requested for the WTO to help find common ground with dispute settlement consultations; if no resolution happens within 60 days the U.S. may press for a formal WTO panel to settle the issue. Read more

California continues to lead the U.S. with 47,200 solar jobs

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 21:28 (Solarserver)

The Solar Foundation (TSF, Washington D.C.) has released state-level data on solar employment in the United States. TSF found that California again leads the nation with 47,200 solar workers in 2013, roughly 1/3 of the nation's 143,000 jobs. Read more

Canadian Solar blasts past PV module shipment guidance

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 16:15 (PV-Tech)

Canadian Solar said that PV module shipments in the fourth quarter of 2013 far exceeded previous guidance, pushing annual shipments close to 2GW. Read more

U.S. initiates WTO case against India over domestic content in National Solar Mission

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 15:26 (Solarserver)

The U.S. government will move forward with a World Trade Organization (WTO) case against India over the domestic content requirement in its National Solar Mission (NSM). Under phase 2, half of the 750 MW of capacity in the NSM bidding process will be set aside for projects using domestic products, with the other half open to products from any source. Read more

Canadian Solar releases preliminary results for Q4 2013

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 14:56 (Solarserver)

Canadian Solar Inc. (Guelph, Canada) has released selected preliminary results for the fourth quarter of 2013, reporting a 75% year-over-year increase to an estimated USD 510-520 million in revenues. The company shipped 605-620 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules during the quarter, a 25% increase over its guidance of 480-500 MW. Read more

Lightsource closes £14 million financing deal for 19MW project

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 14:24 (Solarpowerportal)

Utility-scale solar developer Lightsource Renewable Energy has closed project financing for a 19MW solar farm in Kent. Read more

US asks WTO to investigate India solar procurement rules

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 13:56 (PV-Tech)

The US government has requested that the WTO investigate India’s domestic content requirements that form part of its solar procurement drive. Read more

Trina eyes UK commercial sector with expanded sales network

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 13:52 (PV-Tech)

Trina Solar has expanded its distribution network in the UK as it eyes the country’s underdeveloped commercial sector. Read more

Origis Energy completes two projects for Georgia Power’s Large-Scale Solar Initiative

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 12:57 (PV-Tech)

Origis Energy has announced the completion and grid-connection of two solar farms in the US state of Georgia, with a combined capacity of 23.5MW DC. Read more

ET Solar to supply 23MW of modules for North Carolina utility-scale projects

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 11:57 (PV-Tech)

The US supply arm of ET Solar will provide modules to 23MW of PV power stations across six projects in North Carolina for developer Strata Solar. Read more

Ecap plans 300 MW of solar PV plants in Kazakhstan

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 8:53 (Solarserver)

Ecap Solutions GmbH (Korschenbroich, Germany) plants to build six solar photovoltaic (PV) plants in Southeastern Kazakhstan totaling 300 MW, according to business information service nov-ost.info. Construction of the first 50 MW plant in the Zhualy District of Jambyl Province will begin in 2014, with completion scheduled for late 2015. The amount of the company's investment was not disclosed. Read more

Sumitomo installs solar PV storage system based on recycled EV batteries in Japan

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 8:47 (Solarserver)

Sumitomo Corp. (Tokyo) has installed a battery energy storage system to accompany a solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in Osaka, Japan, using sixteen recycled electric vehicle batteries. The 600 kW/400 MWh project is the first of its kind at this scale, and has been chosen by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) as a model project. The plant will begin operations during February 2014. Read more

India solar: Gujarat still leads with 860 MW of solar capacity, Rajasthan not far behind

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 8:40 (Solarserver)

India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has released a count of grid-tied solar electric capacity in the nation by state as of January 31st, 2014. Gujarat remains the leading state with 860 MW of the nation's 2208 MW of installed capacity, or more than 1/3. Rajasthan has also reached 667 MW, giving the two state together over 2/3 of the market to date. Maharashtra came in a distant third, with 237 MW, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 195 MW and Andhra Pradesh at 92 MW. Read more

Mapping the United States' Wind Turbines

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 21:07 (Renewable Energy World)

Wind energy is one of the fastest-growing sectors of renewable energy in the United States. About 3% of the total electricity in the United States was generated by wind turbines in 2012 (according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration), which is equivalent to the annual electricity use for about 12 million households. The amount of electricity generated by wind has increased from about 6 billion kilowatt hours (kwh) in 2000 to 140 billion kwh in 2012. Read more

Scottish Power Mulls Doubling Size of Hydro Energy-Storage Plant

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 18:45 (Renewable Energy World)

Scottish Power Ltd. may double the size of a hydro plant that stores energy by pumping water up to a mountain reservoir when supply of power exceeds demand as it boosts reliance on volatile renewable generation. Read more

BELECTRIC collaborates with Array Technologies on recent US CREST projects

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 17:54 (PV-Tech)

Several recently completed PV power plant projects for Southern California Edison (SCE) under the California Renewable Energy Small Tariff (CREST) feed-in tariff program also employed Array Technologies ‘DuraTrack’ HZ single-axis trackers, according to the company. Read more

EPRI Begins Work on Three-phase Initiative for Central, Distributed Energy Resources

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 16:28 (Renewable Energy World)

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) said on Feb. 10 that it has begun work on a three-phase initiative involving central and distributed energy resources (DER) to provide stakeholders with information and tools that will be integral to four identified areas of collaboration, which include interconnection rules and communications technologies and standards. Read more

Latin America Report: How Chile Is Shepherding Its Renewable Energy Expansion

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 14:01 (Renewable Energy World)

Chile's renewable energy capacity soared 40 percent in 2013 to 1.1 GW, approximately 6.3 percent of total capacity in the SIC and SING grids, according to figures from the Centro de Energías Renovables (CER) of the Ministerio de Energía. Renewable energy generation was just shy of 4 TWh, a 26 percent jump from the prior year and representing 5.85 percent of overall electricity generation. Read more

Move Over Silicon Valley: Cleantech Companies Are Finding Their Home on the Range

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

Most people in the cleantech community recognize that Santa Clara Valley is a unique and beautiful place with world-class universities, piles of venture capital and an entrepreneurial history second to none, but recent trends indicate that cleantech companies are beginning to consider a new home base on Colorado’s Front Range. According to the Milken Institute’s “Best Performing Cities 2013”, four of the top 25 large cities in the U.S., were from Colorado’s Front Range (Boulder, Denver, Fort Collins and Greeley). The Institute cited “[t]echnology and energy were the forces powering this year’s top performers, even more than in 2012,” and the report noted Read more

South West Energy Centre teams up with NAPIT on energy efficiency training

Tuesday, 2.11.2014 - 11:40 (Solarpowerportal)

The energy efficiency sector has received a training boost, with the South West Energy Centre partnering with National Association of Professional Inspectors and Testers (NAPIT) to provide courses for installers. Read more