The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has offered a conditional commitment for a US$1.45 billion loan guarantee to Abengoa Solar. The loan, which was announced by President Obama in his weekly address, will support the construction and start-up of Solana, a 250MW concentrating solar power (CSP) plant in Arizona.
Wacker Chemie has signed a PPA with Fesil group for the acquisition of its silicon-metal production site based in Holla, Norway. The transaction will still require the approval of Wacker's supervisory board and Fesil's board of directors as well as clearance by the antitrust authorities.
eSolar and Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group (B&W PGG) have been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to receive up to US$10.8 million in funding for the design, construction and testing of a modular, baseload molten salt power plant using concentrated solar power (CSP).
Now that the end of the NextLight acquisition is drawing near, First Solar has turned its focus to the large-scale photovoltaic system solutions market with the formation of a utility systems business group. The company's chief financial officer of four years, Jens Meyerhoff, has been named president of the initiative. "With the pending completion of First Solar's acquisition of NextLight, this part of our global business represents the next leg of growth for our industry and First Solar," said Rob Gillette, First Solar CEO.
Sharp has signed an agreement with NED, the wholly owned independent power producer of Mitsubishi, based in the Kingdom of Thailand, to establish 73MW of thin-film solar power generation plants. The construction of the project, which is expected to be one of the largest in the world, will begin by the end of July for completion in 2011.
During Camstar Systems' "Summit on Solar Quality" held in Santa Clara, CA on June 30, industry thought leaders representing over thirty leading solar companies agreed that the industry must embrace the best known methods and technologies in order to advance product quality and accelerate grid parity.
In an effort to prepare for volume manufacture, QuantaSol, the independent designer and manufacturer of strain-balanced quantum-well solar cells, has undergone significant restructuring.
With the first four Solar Decathlons held in the U.S., intrigue was high for the first European edition held in Madrid this month. In a bid to find out exactly what the competition had in store this year, I travelled over to the Villa Solar just a few days before the closing ceremony to see the offerings first-hand.After 10 days of heated competition, with scorching temperatures beating down all day in the Spanish capital city, the 17 teams' enthusiasm was on top form. Each house's designers welcomed me in, eager to reveal all about the design, planning and above all renewable aspects that had been worked into their entry.
S.A.G. Solarstrom has concluded the long-term financing of its 13.6MWp project located in Stribro, Czech Republic, with the Bayern LB and the LBBW via the project company Solar Stribro. The company will pay the loan on June 30 in the amount of €30.4 million. The sales negotiations for the project, with a total investment volume of over €60 million, are also nearing completion.
Array Technologies' DuraTrack HZ solar tracker has been selected by American Capital Energy (ACE) for use in a 20MW solar photovoltaic power plant being constructed near Searchlight, Nevada. The project is the result of an agreement between ACE and NV Energy to assist NV Energy in meeting Nevada's portfolio standard, which requires that 25% of energy be generated by renewable resources and energy efficiency and conservation programs by 2025.
