Chris Whitmore

T-Solar has signed three loan agreements worth US$145 million to finance two PV plants in Peru. The systems, which have a combined capacity of 44MW, are the first large-scale solar installations in Latin America and will cover 206 hectares of land in the Arequipa region of southern Peru.

Darryl Nakamoto has resigned from his position as Hoku's chief financial officer. Nakamoto, who also served as Hoku's treasurer and secretary, will remain at the company until March 31, 2012 to help the search for his successor and assist with the transition.

Canadian Solar has supplied 2.5MW of modules for two Siemens’s projects in southern Spain. The CS6X modules will power a carport and rooftop system at the University of Murcia.

Dow Corning has signed a long-term contract to supply Air Products with its electronic-grade silane. Air Products will distribute the gas to its clients in the PV and electronics industries.

juwi solar has signed a contract to sell the electricity produced by its planned 19MW Queen Creek PV system in Arizona to Salt River Project (SRP). The 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) will begin once the installation is grid connected at the end of 2012.

Scheuten Solar has supplied 600 of its custom-made building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) modules for a 220kW installation at the Carrara Stadium on Australia’s Gold Coast.

South Africa’s Department of Energy has approved Soitec Energy as one of the preferred bidders under the country’s independent power producer (IPP) programme. Soitec’s first installation under this programme will be a 50MW CPV system next to the Aquila Private Game Reserve in Touwsrivier on the Western Cape.

Suntech Power has received the 2011 Gigaton Prize for its role in reducing carbon emissions around the world and leading efforts in the fight against climate change.

Soltecture has produced the first 100W thin-film modules from its Berlin Adlershof manufacturing line. The modules have an efficiency of 13.4% and Soltecture CEO Nikolaus Meyer believes their launch is an important step in its long-term target of achieving 16% efficiency.

Italy-based manufacturer Elettronica Santerno has supplied 20 of its Sunway inverters to China Guodian for a 200MW PV plant in Qinghai province, China.