Your daily dose of photovoltaic technology developments and solar news

The most ambitious rooftop solar initiative in the U.S. has taken a decidedly crystalline-silicon turn, as Southern California Edison has awarded a contract to SunPower to supply up to 200MW, or 80%, of the utility’s photovoltaic installation program. First Solar had won the contract to supply the first three projects with its CdTe thin-film panels. Company sources tell PV Tech that the remaining 45MW of capacity in the 250MW, five-year program is still up for grabs and that some of that megawattage could end up in ground-mounted arrays rather than on roofs.

SunPower and K6 have signed an agreement under which the companies will build two 1MW photovoltaic solar power plants in the Puglia region, Italy. The two plants are located in Casamassima and Conversano; their power will be fed back into the grid, providing power for the local area.

SunPower has signed a strategic supply agreement with Toshiba, in which the Japanese company will order 32MW of high-efficiency monocrystalline-silicon solar panels from the PV firm this year. The SunPower modules will form the cornerstone of Toshiba's new residential solar offering in Japan, to be launched April 1.

Two major players from the financial sector are investing in what will be Colorado's largest solar photovoltaics power station when completed. MetLife and John Hancock Financial Services will finance the construction and third-party ownership of a 19MW (AC) PV system that SunPower is contracted to build for Xcel Energy in Alamosa County, the companies said.

SunPower has signed a definitive agreement to buy European solar power plant developer SunRay Renewable Energy. SunPower will acquire SunRay from its shareholders (which includes management and Denham Capital) for a total of $277 million--$235 million in cash, and $42 million in the form of letter of credit and promissory notes, the companies said. When the transaction closes, SunPower will add to its portfolio a photovoltaic project pipeline of more than 1.2GW, consisting of sites in various stages of development, in Italy, France, Israel, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Greece.

SunPower’s internal investigation into unsubstantiated accounting entries at its Philippine manufacturing base has made progress, according to the company. The discrepancies were announced in November 2009 and concerned the inclusion of some figures on the financial records for 2009 that may have been intended for inclusion on the 2008 books.

SunPower has completed one solar power project in California, and signed a deal for a series of others in Italy. The company finished a nonpenetrating, high-efficiency 1MW rooftop photovoltaic system on three buildings at Agilent Technologies’ headquarters in Santa Clara, CA, and also reached an agreement with Canadian energy company Etrion to build four solar power plants, totaling 4MW, in the Puglia region of southern Italy.

The University of California Merced is the newest member of SunPower’s solar power installations. SunPower completed a 1MW solar power system on the campus, which is expected to generate two-thirds of the campus’ electricity on summer afternoons and 20% of its annual electricity needs. SunPower will finance the project through a sale leaseback transaction.

President Barack Obama was one of the attendees of the commissioning of Florida Power & Light’s 25MW solar array – the largest in North America. The DeSoto, Florida plant is equipped with more than 90,000 SunPower c-Si modules and will provide energy for more than 3,000 homes.

A solar module prototype developed by SunPower has clocked a 20.4% efficiency in tests, confirmed by the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL). The 333W full-sized solar panel consists of 96 third-generation cells with a total panel area of 1.6m². The prototype was funded the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under its Solar America Initiative (SAI), which was awarded to SunPower approximately two years ago.