Search sponsor
IKEA is continuing with investing in solar power with a further system installed at its store in College Park, Maryland, US. REC Solar was chosen to develop, design and install the 1,196kW system, which consists of a 148,200 square foot PV array, built with 4,984 panels. It will produce approximately 1,571,800kWh of clean electricity annually, the equivalent of reducing 1,195 tons of CO2, eliminating the emissions of 213 cars or powering 135 homes yearly.
Japan’s Kagawa government in western Japan has announced that Kokusai Kogyo Holdings and Orix Corp will each build a solar power plant, to start operations in July and September. The plants will have a capacity of 2MW.
Near the town of Mazarrón in the Murcia region of Spain, Conergy, in conjunction with locals Valfortec and Solaer, have connected a solar park to the grid. An area of almost 36 hectares has been installed with 50 kilometres of Conergy SolarLinea mounting systems with over 22,000 modules. The energy is fed into the Spanish power grid by 380 Conergy IPG T inverters.
Gehrlicher Solar has announced it has completed and commissioned its largest PV plant in Spain. Pereruela Solar Park is the second connected installation in the province of Zomara; the area now generates a total of 14MW. The company will then sell the plant to German investment company KGAL.
Hoping to help the non-profit sector better understand how to reap the benefits of solar power, Phoenix Solar and Silicon Ranch Corporation are building a 200kW solar system on the rooftop of the Second Harvest Food Bank in Middle Tennessee. Construction on the project has already begun with scheduled completion set for Q2 2012.
Moser Baer Solar Systems plans to complete over 100MW of installations in the first quarter of 2011 with projects undertaken in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Orissa, India. Projects in the fourth quarter of 2011, such as a 5MW plant in Jodhpur, Rajasthan in the 3rd quarter under the NVVN migration scheme and a 30MW Project in Gujarat were also completed and operational, according to the company.
Mercury Solar Systems has completed the installation of a 3.6MW solar system, with over 12,000 solar panels, in Manalapan, one of the largest ground-mounted, grid-interconnected solar systems in New Jersey.
Kings Mountain, North Carolina has a new 5MW solar power plant developed by Strata Solar and Chint/Astronergy. The 5MW plant uses 22,000 panels and is said to be one of the state’s largest solar farms to date. The Kings Mountain PV plant will produce enough electricity to power over 600 average homes.
A US$646 million US DOE loan and loan guarantee for First Solar’s 230MW Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One (AVSR) PV power plant project in northern Los Angeles County, California has hit a snag over an outstanding construction permit issue. The timeframe for initial funding of the loan has been pushed back to February 24, 2012 but if the issue isn’t resolved by that date, First solar said it could have to acquire the project from customer, Exelon for approximately US$75 million.
The 110MW Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Plant molten salt tower has been completed, thus marking a major milestone in the construction of what will be the largest CSP power plant in the world. Construction on the plant and the 540-foot tower began in September 2011 and is expected to last 30 months in total. The project was the controversial recipient of a US$737 million US DOE loan guarantee in September.
