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Last year, the Israeli Ministry of Interior approved a plan for an 8MW solar PV plant to be built adjacent to the Bedouin community of Tarabin in the Abu Basma region of the north west of the Negev Desert, which has finally been given the go ahead. This will be a joint project between the Tarabin tribe and Arava Power Company, costing approximately US$30 million. The plant will cover 15 hectares of privately owned agricultural land.
Preliminary figures from IMS Research indicate that PV inverter shipments reached a new record high in 2011. According to the market research firm, shipments grew by more than 10% and exceeded 26GW for the first time. IMS Research’s preliminary Q4’11 report, projects inverter shipments grew by up to 15% in 2011, with more than 8GW shipped in the last quarter of the year.
Utah’s largest PV rooftop installation at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City is to be equipped with Solectria Renewables’ SGI 300 and SGI 500 commercial and utility-scale inverters. The 1.65MW array – said to be the largest convention centre installation in North America – was constructed by Bella Energy, a national commercial solar EPC company based in Louisville, Colorado.
PV inverter shipments may have dipped slightly in 2011, according to IHS PV Inverter Market Tracker report, yet shipments are expected to more than double to 52GW in 2015. Shipments of PV inverters fell to the equivalent of 23.4GW in 2011, down 1% from 23.6GW in 2010, according to the market research firm.
Having achieved full capacity in its Czech plant, AU Optronics has turned to the US market to provide US-made solar modules and customized services, leading to the acquisition of a 9MW solar power project in the Pennsylvania School district. The company claims this will the largest solar power plant in Pennsylvania as well as one of the largest school district projects nationwide.
SunPower has become entangled in a lawsuit directed at the US Departments of the Interior, Treasury and Navy. Judicial Watch, an organization that investigates government corruption and Human Events, a weekly American conservative magazine, filed a Freedom of Information (FOIA) act to sue the Obama administration on February 1, 2012.
Europe’s second-largest oil company, British Petroleum (BP), has failed to meet a financing deadline despite today’s announcement that the company has raised dividends to shareholders by 14%. The Australian government has reopened a solar funding competition to AGL Energy, TRUenergy and Suntech Power, to construct the Moree solar farm in New South Wales.
Initiated this time last year, Parabel has now finalized the design for the 100MW solar park on parts of the former Jännersdorf military training area in Prignitz, Brandenburg, Germany. The Marienfliess Solar Cluster is to be constructed in several phases, to begin at the end of this month, on 430 hectares of land, with completion expected in 2013. There will be four construction sites near Jännersdorf and further east, two sites in Krempendorf.
Through their wholly-owned subsidiary, GCL-Poly Energy Holdings and NRG Solar have formed a new joint venture, Sunora Energy Solutions 1. Each of the shareholders owns 50% interest in the JV, which will build selected projects developed by NRG Solar using GCL-Poly’s PV system equipment and NRG’s racking technologies.
Lake Energy is looking to build a 25-30MW solar park on the former Wymeswold Airfield and according to Solar Power Portal, has submitted plans to Charnwood Borough Council for the project. Stated to use nearly 125,000 solar panels and be constructed over a 150-acre site near Loughborough, Leicestershire, the solar project will be installed between the runways of the former airfield. Upon approval from the council, the project aims to be in construction later this year.
