Your daily dose of photovoltaic technology developments and solar news

A Bloomberg report released on February 22 claims that German chancellor Angela Merkel's government will again revise the subsidy cuts for farmland converted to take solar systems. According to an unpublished draft put together by the government, this kind of installation will no longer receive financial support.

PNM, New Mexico’s largest electric utility, has signed a deal with First Solar to build 22MW (AC) of utility-scale photovoltaic solar power plants in the state. The solar company will construct the facilities using its cadmium-telluride thin-film PV panels at five separate sites within PNM’s service territory.

EDF EN Canada has reached commercial operation and closed financing for the 23.4MW Arnprior Solar Project. This announcement marks the achievement of another of North America's largest solar PV projects. The site is located on the western side of the City of Ottawa, Ontario and consists of 312,000 First Solar thin-film panels. The plant is expected to generate enough renewable energy to meet the peak demands of approximately 7,000 Ontario homes.

What is being called the largest solar PV project in California and the biggest thin-film plant in the U.S. has started commercial operations ahead of schedule. The 21MW (AC) site in Blythe, developed and built by First Solar and acquired by NRG Energy in November, operates under a 20-year power purchase agreement, with the electricity generated sold to Southern California Edison.

juwi solar has begun construction on two large-scale PV installations in the U.S. Following the successful completion of the New Jersey-based 2.2MW for the Mars Snackfood headquarters, juwi has started on the two new projects: one (12MW) in Upper Sandusky, Ohio; the other (15MW) in Jacksonville, Florida. Both projects are scheduled for completion by summer 2010.

At the recent China-U.S. Presidential summit, attended by several dignitaries including President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao, the fate of the what is being referred to as the world’s largest solar power plant was sealed. Following the announcement in early September of the establishment of the plant in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, a cooperation framework has now been signed that provides further details on the various aspects of the project.

First Solar and Enbridge have signed a deal for the Canadian energy company to buy a 20MW solar farm that the PV firm has developed and is building near Sarnia, Ontario. The project, which will be the largest PV installation in Canada when it's completed by the end of the year, is being built by First Solar under a fixed-price engineering, procurement, and construction contract and will use more than 370,000 of the company's CdTe thin-film modules. In other news, First Solar has been added to the S&P500 stock index.

First Solar has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese government to build a multiphase solar power plant project in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, a site that will eventually reach 2GW in installed capacity. Once finalized, the agreement--the first of its kind between the Chinese authorities and a non-Chinese solar company--could also lead to the construction of First Solar moduling and supplier manufacturing facilities in the region.

First Solar's executive ranks have thinned with the departure of John Carrington, the company's  EVP of global marketing and business development. In a Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the firm announced that effective Aug. 24, Carrington and the company had "mutually agreed" to end his employment. He joined the company in May 2008.

First Solar and juwi group say that the Lieberose solar farm under construction in Brandenburg has reached status as the second biggest solar power plant in the world and the biggest in Germany.