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The French government is funding a new solar programme that will see Tenesol install 500 PV systems and 250 converters in several of the country’s overseas territories. La Réunion and Corsica are among the islands set to benefit from the €30 million Millener project, which will build 1,000 energy management systems over the next four years.
This past February students competing in Solar Decathlon 2011 were in an uproar when the US Department of the Interior (DOI) proposed to move the 2011 Solar Decathlon from its long-held place at Washington DC’s National Mall. After lobbying from senators and even President Obama, the DOI decided that it would move the Decathlon from its original place between the Washington Monument and the Capitol, but would keep it on the Mall at West Potomac Park.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded leading microinverter manufacturer SolarBridge Technologies a US$2.3 million grant through its SunShot Initiative. In collaboration with SunPower, SolarBridge will use the grant to accelerate development of a low-cost microinverter and a universal connecting mechanism for modules and power conversion electronics. The joint venture will also focus on making its new microinverter part of a field-tested AC module that is fully certified and backed by a 25-year warranty.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has offered a US$100 million loan to the Indian state of Gujarat to help speed up construction of its new large-scale solar power facilities. ADB’s 25-year loan will finance the Gujarat Solar Power Transmission Project, funding a substation, transmission lines and other equipment to collect and distribute power generated by systems in the Charanka Solar Park in Gujarat’s Patan district.
This past June the US Department of Energy (DOE) offered a conditional loan guarantee of US$1.2 billion to Abengoa Solar for its Mojave Solar Project (MSP). The DOE finalized the loan guarantee today allowing MSP to move forward with development plans. Upon its completion, MSP will be the US’ first utility-scale deployment of Abengoa’s latest solar collector assembly project and bring the country’s CSP capacity to nearly 50%.
As SMA celebrated its 30th anniversary, the company was also celebrating the opening of its new PV inverter service center at the Sandershäuser Berg industrial complex in Germany. The 258,333 square foot building will begin testing, analyzing and repairing replacement devices from around the world in the spring of 2012.
SolarEdge Technologies and Italian distributor Tecno Spot have announced a partnership that will see SolarEdge’s solar power harvesting solutions offered and delivered throughout Italy. Under the signed deal SolarEdge’s module-integrated power optimizers, solar invertors and monitoring tool will be distributed by Tecno Spot with the deal aiming to allow installers and system owners a better solar system design and ultimately a faster return on investment.
Stuart Stott will be bringing his experience developing large-scale power projects and his ability to create industry partnerships to his new role as Spire’s VP of solar systems; a role which will see him manage the expanding solar systems unit for the company. Stott comes to Spire from Public Service Enterprise Group where he served as the global and renewable category manager.
Schletter will be providing solar mounting supplies for groSolar’s 1.5MW ground-mounted solar system located at Clean Harbors Environmental Services’ Bridgeport, New Jersey landfill. Schletter’s ballasted ground-mounted PV Max system will support over 6,500 solar modules at what is being called the largest landfill solar installation in North America.
Installed solar capacity in Italy has passed the 10GW mark and will reach 12GW by the end of 2011, according to the Italian network agency, GSE. In spite of the confusion surrounding the cuts to its feed-in tariff earlier in the year, Italy has still managed to connect 6.5GW to the grid in 2011, leaving the country poised to leapfrog Germany as the world’s leading solar market.
