Emma Hughes

Bringing over 15 years of executive and technology experience to the role, Dr. Omid Shojaei joins Indeotec as its new chief executive officer. In his new position Shojaei hopes to build upon the company’s PECVD platform for R&D and pilot production for both c-Si and TF-Si.

US-based inverter manufacturer Solectria Renewables has delivered four 266kW SGI 266 smartgrid inverters to BlueChip Energy for what will be the largest PV rooftop installation in Florida. The inverters will power the first 1.5MW stage of the 10MW Rinehart Solar Farm project located in Lake Mary, Florida.

Peter Mak, Trina Solar’s independent director and chairman of the audit committee has resigned from his post, effective July 10, in order to focus on other personal and professional pursuits. Jerome Corcoran and Qian Zhao, independent directors for the company, have been appointed chairman of the audit committee and member of the corporate governance and nominating committee respectively.

The Indian state of Karnataka has published its updated solar policy, which includes a target for 350MW of solar projects by 2016. The Government will allocate 40MW worth of projects for direct sale to the different distribution companies in the state, commonly known as ESCOMS, up to the amount of 200MW. A total of 50MW of bundled solar thermal power will be allotted to state-owned utilities for development. The split between photovoltaic and concentrated solar power (CSP) has not yet been defined.

Yet more uncertainty overshadowed Australia’s solar industry at the end of last week as the South Australian Government discussed the future of the state’s feed-in tariff. Having originally planned to increase the incentive rate from 44c to 54c, plus a mandatory additional contribution from electricity retailers, the Government is now tipped to keep the tariff at 44c until the end of September for solar households entering the scheme.

Belgian rail network operator Infrabel has opened its new Paris to Amsterdam high-speed rail link tunnel, which features 16,000 solar panels on its 3.4km rooftop. The plant will produce electricity for the railway infrastructure on the Antwerp North-South junction, including signaling, lighting and heating railway stations, as well as powering the trains.

Canadian Solar has become an official sponsor of the New York Yankees, enhancing the baseball team’s environmental commitments while increasing the photovoltaic product manufacturer’s presence in the US.

An unnamed photovoltaic solar panel manufacturer has purchased Eyelit’s Solar Edition manufacturing software, which consists of Eyelit MES, statistical process control (SPC), automation, asset management, and quality management, to support its aggressive PV production ramp-up.

The Tata Steel and Dyesol development partnership has produced the world’s largest dye-sensitized photovoltaic module. Manufactured at Tata Steel’s Shotton site in North Wales, the module is over three metres in length and approximately one square metre in area. This unique achievement represents an important step towards the development of large-scale microgeneration capability within building infrastructure.

A group of solar companies disappointed by the UK’s Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) decision to cut the feed-in tariff for solar PV installations over 50kW has been granted permission to proceed with its legal case. A High Court judge has ruled that the group of solar developers seeking a judicial review against Government can now advance with its case against Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne.