Order Focus: Sungrow supplies 20kW PV string inverters for PV plants in Turkey

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 20:12 (PV-Tech)

Sungrow Power Supply Co is supplying 20kW PV string inverters for several PV power plants in Turkey with a total of 2MW. Read more

Oxford PV appoints CTO to push commercialisation of Perovskite thin-film solar cells

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 19:17 (PV-Tech)

Perovskite thin-film solar cells could be closer to commercialisation than expected after Oxford Photovoltaics (Oxford PV) made a critical appointment of a veteran leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing technologist as its Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Chris Case. Read more

EPIA: EC state aid rules discriminate against small generation

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 16:37 (Solarserver)

The European Commission (EC) has adopted new state aid rules, which dictate renewable energy policy design to member states. This includes a requirement for competitive bidding processes for renewable energy plants above 1 MW, and a balancing requirement for all recipients of support. Read more

ET Solar planning 50MW of EPC services business in Turkey

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 20:15 (PV-Tech)

PV manufacturer, ET Solar has secured a strategic partnership agreement with MEL Solar Energy, a PV project developer based in Turkey that will collaborate on PV projects in the country through its German-bade EPC subsidiary, ET Solutions. Read more

Trina achieves world record output with p-type silicon solar PV module

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 19:00 (Solarserver)

Trina Solar Ltd. (Changzhou, China) has produced a new 60-cell monocrystalline silicon solar photovoltaic (PV) module with a power output of 326.3 watts, as certified by TÜV Rheinland (Cologne, Germany). Trina's “Honey Ultra” module sets a new world record for p-type monocrystalline silicon PV modules, and is a big increase on the 284.7 watt output of the company's previous generation of Honey modules. Read more

The Method and Meaning of Minnesota's New Value of Solar Policy

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 17:11 (Renewable Energy World)

In March 2014, Minnesota became the first state to adopt a “value of solar” policy to set a fair, transparent price on solar energy. It may serve as a national precedent and fundamentally change the financial relationship between electric utilities and their energy-producing customers.  So what will value of solar mean for utility customers produci Read more

Trina Solar develops p-type monocrystalline module with record 326.3W performance

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 14:15 (PV-Tech)

Tier-one PV manufacturer Trina Solar claims to have set a new performance record for a module using p-type monocrystalline wafers of 326.3W, an output independently verified by TUV Rheinland. Read more

New EU state aid guidelines could hamper UK’s rooftop solar push

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 14:15 (Solarpowerportal)

The EU has approved new state aid guidelines for the energy market that critics say could disadvantage smaller renewable energy producers. Read more

Jinko to distribute PV panels in India

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 13:55 (PV-Tech)

Module, cell and wafer supplier, Jinko Solar, is to supply modules for distribution in India. Read more

Minnesota value for solar tariff could ‘help defuse’ battles over distributed generation

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 13:20 (PV-Tech)

Policies such as the ‘value of solar’ tariff introduced in the US state of Minnesota could “help defuse” policy battles over distributed generation, according to a new report by non-profit organisation, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR). Read more

Lightsource and ET Solar begin 50MW collaboration

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 13:00 (Solarpowerportal)

Lightsource Renewable Energy has bought a completed PV project from ET Solar as a 50MW collaboration between the two companies gets underway. Read more

Crowd-Funded US Rooftop Solar May Top $5 Billion in Five Years

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 12:53 (Renewable Energy World)

Crowdfunding may supply the rooftop solar projects with $5 billion of investment within five years, more than 50 times the amount raised to date. Read more

Lightsource and ET Solar close first deal of 50MW collaboration

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 12:42 (PV-Tech)

UK developer Lightsource Renewable Energy has bought a completed PV project from ET Solar as a 50MW collaboration between the two companies gets underway. Read more

EIA report: Solar accounts for nearly 25% of new US generating capacity

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 11:58 (PV-Tech)

A new report by the US Energy Information Administration revealed which energy sources contributed the most to the US’ total generating capacity in 2013. Read more

Clenergy JV to build 150 MW of solar PV projects in Fujian Province, China

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 9:01 (Solarserver)

Clenergy (Xiamen, China) and the Xiamen National Hi-Tech Entrepreneurship Center are establishing a joint venture to develop roughly 150 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in Southeastern China's Fujian Province. The organizations plan to begin in the city of Xiamen, with the first rooftop PV system to be installed at the Xiamen Innovation Park, where the entrepreneurship center is located. Over the next three years the JV plans to focus on commercial and utility-scale PV projects across Fujian Province. Read more

Solar PV meets 4.2% of German electric demand in Q1 2014

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 8:55 (Solarserver)

German's solar photovoltaic (PV) plants produced 5.7 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity during the first quarter of 2014, according to a new analysis of German renewable energy by Fraunhofer ISE (Freiburg, Germany). This is a 73% increase over PV output in the first quarter of 2013. This means that PV met 4.2% of electricity demand during the quarter, a very high figure for the winter months. Also during the quarter net electricity exports were limited to 1.5% of production, and generation from coal plants returned to lower levels than in the first quarter of 2012 or 2013. Read more

Soitec to supply majority of solar CPV projects in French solicitation

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 8:50 (Solarserver)

Soitec SA (Bernin, France) reports that thirteen of sixteen projects based on concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) technology approved in the latest French solar solicitation will use its Concentrix CPV modules, to total more than 50 MW of capacity. The solicitation awarded 20 MW of projects based on CPV technology and 80 MW of projects which will utilize at least 50% CPV, for a minimum of 60 MW allocated to CPV. This solicitation was limited to projects larger than 250 kW, with results announced in March 2014. Read more

Jaguar Land Rover completes the UK's largest rooftop solar PV plant at 5.8 MW

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 8:45 (Solarserver)

Jaguar Land Rover (Wolverhampton, UK) has completed installation of a 5.8 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) system on the roof of its Engine Manufacturing Centre in South Staffordshire, England. This is already the largest rooftop PV plant in the UK, and the company plans to expand it to 6.3 MW by the end of 2014. Jaguar Land Rover estimates that the system will meet more than 30% of the energy requirements for the facility. Read more

Shale Gas Boom Leaves Wind Power Developers Seeking More Subsidy

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 10:34 (Renewable Energy World)

Wind power in the U.S. is on a respirator. The $14 billion industry, the world’s second-largest buyer of wind turbines, is reeling from a double blow — cheap natural gas unleashed by the hydraulic fracturing revolution and the death last year of federal subsidies that made wind the most competitive of all renewable energy sources in the U.S. Read more

Utilities Threatened by Competitive Renewable Energy Growth

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 17:13 (Renewable Energy World)

Technology is catching up with Thomas Edison’s electricity industry, eating away at the utility business model that hasn’t changed much in a century. Read more

UK finally launches domestic Renewable Heat Incentive

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 14:39 (Solarserver)

After years of delay, the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has launched the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) for the residential sector. The program is a performance-based incentive for renewable heating technologies including solar water heating. Read more

UN Climate Change Panel to Discuss Global Transition to Renewable Energy

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 14:23 (Renewable Energy World)

After concluding that global warming almost certainly is man-made and poses a grave threat to humanity, the U.N.-sponsored expert panel on climate change is moving on to the next phase: what to do about it. Read more

EU approves new state aid guidelines

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 14:15 (PV-Tech)

The EU has approved new state aid guidelines for the energy market that critics say could disadvantage smaller renewable energy producers. Read more

Green Energy Technology’s wafer sales slide 10% in March

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 14:15 (PV-Tech)

Major Taiwan-based solar wafer producer, Green Energy Technology (GET) has reported a sales decline of 10% in March. Read more

Recurrent CEO downplays threat of PV energy to utilities

Wednesday, 4.9.2014 - 13:13 (PV-Tech)

Arno Harris, the chief executive officer of Recurrent Energy, the US-based PV manufacturing subdivision of Japanese electronics developer Sharp, has said the growing PV sector in the US will not cut into and limit the activities of traditional utilities. Read more