Search sponsor
Search sponsor
REC Solar and KIUC recently held a kick-off meeting with Homestead Community Development Corporation (HCDC) in order to initiate the next steps of the 12MW solar project the companies will be installing on Hawaiian Homelands in Anahola on the northeast side of Kauai. REC Solar won the contract for the project in December, marking it as the second utility-scale project the company has developed for KIUC.
Following meetings between the German government and solar industry representatives yesterday, Germany’s Federal Minister of Energy and Environment, Norbert Röttgen, has announced his intention to accelerate the degression of feed-in tariffs. The Renewable Energy Act will need to be rewritten in order to incorporate the changes. Both the government and the solar industry were said to have agreed that FiTs should be cut every month, rather than the current six months, to avoid the last minute rush that, in 2011, created a record level of 7.5GW capacity.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance has reported that Indian solar power capacity has expanded 20-fold in the part year, to at least 356MW. However, this is only a third of the country’s targeted level. Bloomberg is placing the blame on infrastructure, financing and weather- related delays.
BLT Enterprises, SPI Solar and Pacific Edison will be partnering up to develop a 400kW DC distributed generation PV solar energy facility at Volkswagen’s US test centre in California. Construction, by an undisclosed affiliate of BLT Enterprises, is due to commence at the later in the year and is 63,500 square foot. BLT claims this will be one of the automobile industry’s most advanced emissions testing and power train development facilities. The centre will be used by various brands within the Volkswagen Group, including Volkswagen, Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley and Bugatti.
Though no ‘spring chicken’ in the in the weight department (80lbs), Kyocera has launched its highest output multicrystalline module in the US market. The 80 high efficiency 156mm x 156mm solar cell KD 315 comes with a 315 watt performance (+5% / -3%) tolerance. Being the US, the KD 315 comes with an aesthetically pleasing black anodized frame.
Powerway has announced it will be investing (US$1,265,328.63) Ran10M$ (partly self-financing, partly bank financing) for production facilities in South Africa, with the intention of supplying mounting structures for over 500MW of solar farms per year. Working in conjunction with the South African government’s BBBEE program, the company will be installing its mounting structures for utility scale PV power plants: Powerfit, PowerScrew, and PowerTracker.
A new study released by the US Department of Defense’s (DOD) Office of Installations and Environment has found that the DOD has the potential to generate 7,000MW of solar energy across four military bases in California’s Mojave Desert. The study, conducted by consultancy ICF International, took place over one year and looked at seven military bases in California and two in Nevada.
Martifer Solar USA has received US$7.15 million in credit facilities from California Bank & Trust to provide full construction period financing for over 10MW of additional solar projects. With a current project pipeline of 100MW, the company is poised to win a significant share of the United States commercial solar market in the coming year.
PV industry veteran, Joachim Nell has joined power optimization specialist SolarEdge Technologies as its Central European, general manager. Most recently, Nell was a VP of Manz, responsible for its turnkey CIGS thin-film technology. Prior to joining Manz, Nell was senior VP and COO of Masdar PV.
Having bucked plans to aggressively pursue potential new markets in the Middle-East, Phoenix Solar has found the eastern-edge of Europe as a better bet, signing an exclusive partnership with Turkey’s leading installer, iRES Enerji.
