Deal brokered for Suntech Power to sell Wuxi Suntech modules in US and Europe

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 20:15 (PV-Tech)

Suntech Power Holdings liquidators have brokered a deal with Wuxi Suntech, operated by Shunfeng for former owner to act as intermediaries for the sale of modules in the US and Europe. Read more

PV inverter supplier rankings continue shift says IHS

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 15:09 (PV-Tech)

Market research firm IHS has disclosed the top 10 PV inverter suppliers for 2013, which highlights the continuing market share gains by Asian-based suppliers at the expense of European rivals. Read more

Back contact HIT solar cell from Panasonic pushes efficiency record to 25.6%

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 13:41 (PV-Tech)

Panasonic Corporation has achieved a record conversion efficiency of 25.6% on a commercial sized (143.7 cm²) monocrystalline-based ‘HIT’ solar cell. Read more

Panasonic achieves new record with 25.6% efficient HIT solar PV cell

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 22:52 (Solarserver)

Panasonic Corp. (Osaka, Japan) has achieved a 25.6% conversion efficiency with a solar photovoltaic (PV) cell based on its Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin Layer (HIT) technology. This is a new record for HIT PV cells, which feature a layer of crystalline silicon sandwiched between two layers of thin-film silicon. Read more

U.S. prices for Chinese solar PV modules to increase up to 20% during 2014

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 15:12 (Solarserver)

Citing supply constraints, rising input costs and the U.S.-China solar trade case, GTM Research (Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.) has warned that U.S. prices for Chinese solar photovoltaic (PV) modules could increase up to 20% by the end of 2014. Chinese PV makers supplied nearly 3 GW of modules to the United States in 2013, representing more than half of the nation's market. Read more

BSW-Solar to challenge solar PV self-consumption charge in court

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 14:50 (Solarserver)

Germany's Solar Industry Association (BSW-Solar) has announced that it will challenge government plans to impose the surcharge according to the renewable energy act (EEG) on solar photovoltaic (PV) systems which supply electricity directly to their owners in the nation's Constitutional Court. Read more

Marubeni to build tsunami-reconstruction ‘mega’ solar park in Japan

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 14:10 (PV-Tech)

Global trading and infrastructure conglomerate, Marubeni Corporation is to build a mega solar park in Iwanuma City, Japan. Read more

Hanwha Q Cells constructs first US solar farm on Superfund site

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 12:13 (PV-Tech)

PV developer Hanwha Q Cells has completed the first PV project located on an active EPA Superfund site. Read more

ET Solar commissions Israel PV plant for EDF Energies Nouvelles

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 11:15 (PV-Tech)

ET Solar’s German engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) subsidiary ET Solutions has completed and commissioned a 7.8MWp solar power plant in Mishmar Hanegev, Israel, for EDF Energies Nouvelles. Read more

SEMI: Solar PV equipment orders reach their highest level in two years in Q4 2013

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 9:01 (Solarserver)

SEMI (San Jose, California, U.S.) reports that while solar photovoltaic (PV) equipment billings fell 49% in 2013 to USD 1.22 billion, that bookings rose in the fourth quarter of 2013 to the highest level since the first quarter of 2012. While SEMI did not provide numbers, bookings rose 6% year-over-year and 112% sequentially in the fourth quarter of 2013. Despite this the book-to-bill ratio was at 0.61 during the quarter, as the eleventh consecutive quarter of book-to-bill ratios below parity. Read more

Martifer Solar commissions 78.4 MW of UK solar PV plants

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 8:55 (Solarserver)

Martifer Solar (Oliveira de Frades, Portugal) reports that it has commissioned five solar photovoltaic (PV) plants totaling 78.4 MW in the United Kingdom for Lightsource Renewable Energy (London) in nine weeks' time. As Martifer completed all of the plants before the March 31st, 2014 deadline, all five will qualify for renewable obligation certificates (ROCs) at the 1.6 rate. The company has built almost 110 MW of PV plants for Lightsource in the last 12 months, and has sold 37 MW of these plants. Read more

United PV acquires 40 MW solar PV plant in Inner Mongolia

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 8:50 (Solarserver)

A subsidiary of United Photovoltaics Group Ltd. (Hong Kong) has acquired a 90% share in a 40 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in China's Inner Mongolia region from the Forty-eighth Research Institute of China Electronics Group Corp. (Changsa, China). Through this transaction United PV has acquired three of the four PV plants totaling 195 MW which it entered into an agreement to purchase in November 2013. Forty-eighth Research Institute still holds a majority interest in the final 65 MW PV project in Inner Mongolia. Read more

Martifer Solar completes 78MW of UK solar ahead of ROC deadline

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 8:15 (Solarpowerportal)

Portuguese solar developer, Martifer Solar, has announced that it has successfully connected 78.4MW of new solar capacity to the grid before the 31 March 1.6ROC deadline. Read more

Lark Energy connects 85MW of solar farms ahead of ROC drop

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 8:03 (Solarpowerportal)

Solar developer Lark Energy connected 85MW worth of solar projects to the grid ahead of the renewable obligation rate dropping in April. Read more

UPDATE: UK Announces Renewable Heat Tariffs

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 21:45 (Renewable Energy World)

UPDATE: The U.K. government yesterday launched its Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (d-RHI), which pays households that generate heat and hot water using renewable energy systems such as solar hot water, geothermal heat pumps and biomass heating. Read more

IKEA Enters US Wind Market With Largest Renewables Investment to Date

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 22:02 (Renewable Energy World)

IKEA is at it again. In an effort to achieve its goal of producing more renewable energy than it consumes by 2020, the retail giant announced yesterday that it has purchased the 98-MW Hoopeston wind farm in Illinois. This purchase marks its first wind project investment in the U.S. and largest renewables investment globally. IKEA will own the wind farm and U.S.-based developer Apex Clean Energy will manage the project. Read more

GWEC: Global Installed Wind Power Capacity Will (Almost) Double in Five Years

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 7:00 (Renewable Energy World)

Led by Asia and other developing regions, the global wind market will grow at an annual cumulative capacity rate of more than 10 percent over the next five years, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC). The group released its annual report yesterday and discussed its findings on a press call. Read more

Tax Code of Honor: US Congress Must Choose a Clean Energy Future

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 16:17 (Renewable Energy World)

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Wyden has officially begun consideration of legislation to reinstate a suite of tax credits that big polluters and their allies succeeded in getting Congress to let expire, including vital, commonsense policies that promote clean energy. Read more

UK successfully lobbies for fossil fuel protection in state aid guidelines

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 14:34 (Solarpowerportal)

The UK has successfully lobbied to have a clause removed from the new EU state aid guidelines that would have hampered support for fossil fuels. Read more

UK must invest in energy storage, warns Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 13:46 (Solarpowerportal)

Greater consideration of energy storage technologies, including investment, is necessary for the UK to have the best chance of meeting its targets for renewable energy generation and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, according to a report published today by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE). Read more

Exclusive: Lightsource explains new focus on commercial rooftops

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 13:42 (Solarpowerportal)

Lightsource Renewable Energy’s founder and CEO Nick Boyle explains why it is moving into the commercial rooftop space following its acquisition of assets from Renewable Resources. Read more

Call for legal challenge to ‘harmful’ EU renewables state aid rules

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 13:00 (PV-Tech)

The European Renewable Energies Federation has called for a legal challenge to European Commission state aid guidelines published yesterday that critics fear could undermine smaller renewable energy generators. Read more

Russia Sets Renewable Energy Auction Dates

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 12:32 (Renewable Energy World)

The Russian Government has announced that renewable energy source (RES) investment project auctions (IPA) for the years 2015 through 2018 will be held May 28 through June 10, 2014. Read more

Capital for Clean Energy Easier to Find as Investors Seek Simplicity

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 12:30 (Renewable Energy World)

Simplifying finance vehicles for renewable energy will lure more investors and lower the costs of capital. Read more

UK must invest in energy storage, warns Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 12:03 (PV-Tech)

Greater consideration of energy storage technologies is necessary for the UK to have the best chance of meeting its targets for renewable energy generation and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, according to a report published today by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Read more

BNEF chooses PV, energy storage companies as 2014 New Energy Pioneers

Thursday, 4.10.2014 - 8:45 (Solarserver)

Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF, New York City) has selected two solar photovoltaic (PV) companies and an energy storage company among its ten 2014 New Energy Pioneers. BNEF chose 1366 Technologies (Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.), which uses a novel process to cast silicon wafers, as well as K-MOPA Solar (Nairobi, Kenya), which brings together asset financing, mobile technology and PV to provide electricity to off-grid low-income homes. Read more