SMA introduces integrated, compact DC-to-AC system solution for utility-scale PV plants

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 12:15 (Solarserver)

SMA America (Rocklin, Calif.) has expanded its PV power plant solutions portfolio with the new Utility Power System. This compact, DC-to-AC system solution for utility-scale PV consists of advanced engineered components, including the new Sunny Central 2000-US inverter, medium-voltage transformer, DC combiners, high-speed plant control and system-wide services. The Utility Power System’s efficient design delivers higher energy yields while reducing capital and operating expenditures, resulting in optimized levelized cost of energy (LCOE), SMA emphasizes. Read more

Oxford PV to commercialise perovskite tandem thin-film for c-Si cells

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 10:15 (Solarpowerportal)

UK-based thin-film start-up, Oxford Photovoltaics said it would commercialise a perovskite based tandem thin-film for conventional c-Si solar cells ahead of plans to commercialise its BIPV product offering set for 2017. Read more

Zep Solar CEO zips over to run QBotix

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 17:49 (PV-Tech)

Former CEO, Mike Miskovsky of PV module mounting systems designer, Zep Solar has joined another innovative company in the PV sector, robot controlled tracking systems firm, QBotix. SolarCity acquired Zep Solar for US$158 million all stock transaction in October, 2013. Read more

1366 Technologies: We Can Sell Solar Wafers Below Market Costs

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 17:48 (Renewable Energy World)

1366 Technologies Inc. says it can produce silicon wafers for solar cells for less than competitors, an advantage it hopes to use to expand market share. Read more

California Encourages West-facing Solar Panels

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 17:31 (Renewable Energy World)

Rooftop solar panels in North America face south. That’s just the way we do it. But California recently began to incentivize west-facing panels over south-facing solar. New guidelines from the California Energy Commission call for a 15 percent higher rebates for west-facing solar arrays than for south-facing solar panels. While solar panels collect Read more

African PV technology, manufacturing: Frost & Sullivan Commends PTiP Innovations' local expertise, partnerships in the solar market

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 14:53 (Solarserver)

Based on its recent analysis of the solar photovoltaic (PV) market, Frost & Sullivan recognises Photovoltaic Technology Intellectual Property Innovations (PTiP, Cape Town, South Africa) with the 2014 South Africa Frost & Sullivan Award for Technology Innovation Leadership. PTiP Innovations was created to commercialise the intellectual property and patented technology developed within the University ofJohannesburg. Following the development of solar thin-film modules, the company is looking to commercialise the manufacturing process of this entirely South African technology. Read more

ReneSola to supply 10MW DCR solar PV modules to utility-scale project in India

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 14:47 (Solarserver)

ReneSola Ltd (Jiashan, China) on September 11th, 2014 announced it will provide 10 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules to Juwi India Renewable Energies Pvt. Ltd., a Bangalore-based engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm specializing in solar and wind energy plants. The modules will power a utility-scale PV project in Rajasthan to be developed by Atha Group, an India-based conglomerate with operations in mining, steel manufacturing, power, and renewable energy. Read more

Government delegation from Bangladesh visits Innotech Solar’s PV production site in Sweden

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 14:43 (Solarserver)

In August, a four member delegation from BEPZA (Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority) visited the solar module production site of Scandinavian-German manufacturer Innotech Solar (ITS) in the Swedish town of Glava. The reason behind the visit was to conduct pre-shipment inspection for procurement of photovoltaic installations in Bangladeshi industrial parks and Export Processing Zones, Innotech Solar reports in a press release. The intention is for solar energy to help reduce the risk of power outages and thus increase the security of power supply within the country. Read more

NFU partners with solar sector to launch agricultural guide for solar farms

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 14:17 (Solarpowerportal)

Solar farms are helping develop a new generation of farms that produce both food and energy, according to guidance published today by the National Farmers Union (NFU), the National Solar Centre (NSC) and the Solar Trade Association (STA). Read more

Mexican conglomerate has big PV module manufacturing ambitions

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 13:37 (PV-Tech)

Diversified Mexican conglomerate, Grupo IUSA, has said that it will establish its first PV module assembly plant by the end of 2014 with plans to invest around US$200 million and reach 500MW of capacity in anticipation of a boom in solar installations in the country. Read more

IHS: Solar PV installations in Central America will amount to 1.5 GW for the period from 2012 through 2018

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 12:21 (Solarserver)

Set to install an impressive 1.5 gigawatts (GW) of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity within a six-year period through 2018, Central America is attracting attention from PV developers from around the world, according to a new report from IHS Technology (London). This year, total PV capacity for the six countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama is forecast to reach 22 megawatts (MW), up from 6 MW last year. A gigantic leap is then expected to take place in 2015 when PV capacity bounds up to 243 MW, IHS Technology notes. Read more

Almost 10% of Japan’s 2012 large-scale PV projects now officially cancelled

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 12:13 (PV-Tech)

A survey into Japan’s approved but unbuilt solar PV projects from the 2012 fiscal year has produced another set of definitive results, with 1.82GW of cancellations announced by the government this week. Read more

Jinko connects 100MW China project to the grid

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 11:04 (PV-Tech)

JinkoSolar has connected a 100MW PV power plant in China to the grid. Read more

CSP Alliance report: Concentrating solar power with storage is much more competitive when net grid system costs are compared to wind or solar PV

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 10:04 (Solarserver)

The Concentrating Solar Power Alliance (CSPA, Oakland, Calif.), an advocacy organization dedicated to educating U.S. regulators, utilities and grid operators about the unique benefits of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP), on September 10th, 2014 issued an updated version of a technical report titled “The Economic and Reliability Benefits of CSP with Thermal Energy Storage: Literature Review and Research Needs, 2014”. According to the report, CSP with thermal energy storage is shown to be much more competitive when the comprehensive net grid system costs of the CSP plant are compared to wind or solar photovoltaics (PV). Read more

JinkoSolar connects 100 MW PV plant atop of a fish pond in Xiangshui, Jiangsu Province to the grid

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 9:55 (Solarserver)

JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (Shanghai, China) on September 10th, 2014 announced that its 100 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in Xiangshui, Jiangsu Province was connected to the grid. The company has so far successfully connected to the grid more than 300 MW of solar PV power projects, JinkoSolar emphasizes. Read more

Trina Solar to supply PV modules totalling 70 MW to solar power project in Chile

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 9:49 (Solarserver)

Trina Solar Limited (Changzhou, China) on September 10th, 2014 announced it has agreed to supply 70 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules to a large-scale project in Chile. Under the terms of the agreement, Trina Solar will deliver TSM-PC14 solar PV modules that have an output of between 300 W and 310 W per panel. Shipment of the modules will commence in September 2014, the company announced. Read more

Google invests USD 145 million in SunEdison’s 82 MW solar PV project Regulus

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 7:14 (Solarserver)

SunEdison Inc. (Belmont, Calif., US), on September 10th, 2014 announced that Google Inc. has agreed to provide USD 145 million in equity financing for the “Regulus” solar photovoltaic (PV) project. When completed, the Regulus solar PV plant will be SunEdison's largest developed and constructed project in North America. Located in Kern County, California, the Regulus plant will begin operation later this year, and will supply solar power to Southern California Edison through a 20-year power purchase agreement. Read more

2030 Outlook: A Trillion Dollar Taxpayer Bailout for Electrical Utilities

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 19:00 (Renewable Energy World)

After bailing out Wall Street in 2008, are Americans ready to provide a one trillion dollar bailout to our electric utilities in 2030?  Even though worldwide demand for energy is estimated to rise 41 percent by 2035, Barclays recently downgraded their outlook for utilities.  The question we should ask ourselves is what does it mean when you downgra Read more

Siemens Tidal Energy Project Suspended

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 17:31 (Renewable Energy World)

Marine Current Turbines (MCT), the tidal energy company owned by German engineering giant Siemens has announced that it has suspended development of a planned 10 MW tidal array in Wales. Read more

RusHydro Considers Renewable Energy Fund IPO with PowerChina

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 14:37 (Renewable Energy World)

RusHydro JSC, Russia’s biggest hydropower company, is considering selling shares in a clean energy fund it plans to create with Power Construction Corp. of China Ltd. to gain from a new subsidy program. Read more

Renewables must take centre stage at Paris climate talks, says IRENA

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 12:43 (PV-Tech)

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has called for renewables to be a key focus of the forthcoming climate change talks in Paris later this year. Read more

Interdisciplinary research project finds German energy transformation widely accepted

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 12:04 (Solarserver)

Under the leadership of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE (Freiburg, Germany), an interdisciplinary team is investigating how the transition to an energy system based on renewables finds durable acceptance among the German population. First results show that there is a large degree of acceptance for the energy transformation within the German population. Read more

Report: Claims that low-carbon technology demand will lead to metal scarcity are ‘scaremongering’

Thursday, 9.11.2014 - 10:50 (Solarpowerportal)

Recent warnings about scarcity of ‘critical’ metals required for the manufacture of low-carbon energy technologies are overblown, according to a report published by the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) and the Energy Research Partnership (ERP). Read more