Anne Zimmermann

Solar modules supplier Worldwide Energy and Manufacturing USA has announced the resignation of the company’s director Michael O’Connor effective June 28, 2012, as well as the departure of Jeff Watson.

Canadian solar developer CarbonFree Technology has installed a 543kW PV system on the roof of Canada’s largest apple grower Algoma Orchards, the company has announced. The system, which is operated by BrightRoof Solar, a collaboration between CarbonFree and Connor Clark and Lunn Infrastructure, is installed on the roof of one of Algoma Orchards processing facilities.

Ethiopia will receive solar systems to connect rural areas to the grid, according to 2merkato reports. Chinese and British solar companies have signed agreements with the Ethiopian government to develop PV arrays ranging from 8kW to 130kW to power rural villages.

Infigen has been chosen to construct a 1MW PV plant with integrated storage, the company has announced. The Capital East solar farm will be built in New South Wales (NSW) and it will be the first in Australia to be registered with the National Electricity Market (NEM) as well as Infigen’s first PV project in operation.

Bechtel Power has chosen Unirac to provide a PV system for the 110MW AC Catalina PV project in Kern County, California, the company has announced. The company will supply the Catalina PV park with a ground mounted system, installed on a 1,100 acre site. Unirac manufactured the system specifically for the project, which is expected to be completed in 2013.

The Chinese National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has increased the country’s target of installed solar energy from 15GW to 21GW by 2015, it has been reported. According to an IMS Research report, China’s installations will exceed 4GW in the second half of 2012. The increase will further stimulate the domestic PV market at a time when the European market is expected to decrease. IMS Research reports that China’s capacity of c-Si modules will reach 32.6GE in Q1 ’12, even though the full year forecast for global installations is only 30.6GW.

Etrion’s Italian PV projects have exceeded the forecasted performance, the company has announced. The company has 60MW of PV plants in operation in Italy and in June 2012 the energy production was 9% above forecast and over 30% more than during the same time period in 2011. In the first half of 2012, Etrion generated over 57 million kWh of energy, which is approximately 42 million, kWh more than in the first half of 2011. The company is expecting a 15% increase in the total production in 2012 compared to 2011.

ReneSola has entered into a supply agreement with Greek Big Solar, the company has announced. Under the agreement, ReneSola will provide Big Solar with 100MW of its Virtus PV modules. ReneSola further announced the revision of its 2012 half year shipment guidance of wafers and modules, which is expected to be up to 1GW. The company assumes that the full year shipments with be up to 2.4GW compared to previous estimation of approximately 2GW.

Indonesian State oil and gas company PT Pertamina has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with PT LEN to develop a local PV industry, the company has announced. The current Indonesian solar capacity is 17MW and PT Pertamina hopes to boost the solar industry by producing solar cells locally instead of having to import them. To date, only modules and PV systems are manufactured in Indonesia, cells have to be imported.

Heritage Global Partners and Schneider have entered a partnership for an asset auction, the companies have announced. The two companies have scheduled the auction for AE Polysilicon’s Pennsylvania manufacturing facility for Tuesday, July 31, 2010, beginning at 9am Eastern Time.