Heliotrop’s HCPV1024 consortium was recently awarded €16 million by the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), which will support a total investment program of €44 million to build manufacturing facilities and install Heliotrop CPV modules.
Areva Solar will be developing what is being called the largest CSP plant in Asia to date with the construction of a 250MW concentrating solar power project for Reliance Power in Rajasthan. The project is part of the country’s program to increase clean energy production by 20,000MW of solar power by 2022.
RWE is supposedly looking to invest in solar power plants, citing solar module prices as one of its key determining factors. According to Bloomberg, up until now Germany’s second-biggest utility, which owns a stake in Spain’s Andasol 3 solar thermal power plant, has distanced itself from investing in PV generation because of what it considered too high of a cost for the technology. However, now that prices for solar modules are considerably lower than in the past, the utility is taking a second look.
The Hindu Business Line has reported that power equipment manufacturer Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) has made almost a US$4 million (Rs 20 crore) investment into the expansion of its PV module manufacturing division, escalating its line from a 8MW capacity to a 26MW capacity. The increase is expected to be completed by September.
Isofoton advised that it has signed a joint development agreement with Korea’s Posco Plant Engineering for the international development of solar projects. The EPC company and solar module company noted that the projects will mainly be focused in the US, a locale in which Isofoton plans to install a 100MW solar plant later this year. Isofoton acknowledged that this partnership was a way to help broaden its international presence.
Six Wal-Mart stores in Colorado are sporting new solar installations thanks in part to SolarCity. The company installed 2MWon three stores in Westminster and 1MW at stores in Lakewood, Highlands Ranch and Lafayette. The projects all contribute to Colorado’s goal to generate 30% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.
Tenaska is breaking its way into the solar power generation market with an announcement that it has closed commercial financing for its Imperial Solar Energy Center South in southern California. The utility-scale PV plant is the first of what the company expects to be several solar generating facilities it will develop in California and other US states. Located in Imperial County, the 946-acre solar project was developed by Tenaska Solar Ventures, with the company advising that a second solar project is under development nearby.
Antaris Solar has advised of a new charitable foundation that it will be sponsoring. German-based The Goede Foundation, which encourages science and education through international projects, has installed ten off-grid PV systems with its own PV modules under its “Solar Energy for Education” initiative in an area near Halong Bay, Vietnam. Additionally, the company has supplied TV sets and teaching DVDs to stimulate learning opportunities in developing countries and plans to add 90 PV systems in other regions of Vietnam.
The Isle of Wight, located off the southern coast of Great Britain, has a new 1.6MW solar plant to thank for helping to contribute to its electricity grid. The project was completed using 80 strings, each with 88 solar modules, and outfitted with SunMaster CS20 inverters from Mastervolt. The company advised that this is one of the largest systems with sting inverters in Britain.
KACO new energy and Neon Energy recently signed a framework agreement at the Ecotec trade fair in Athens, which will see KACO provide Neon Energy with 50MW of its inverters for solar projects in Greece. Neon Energy plans to develop 100kw, 200kW and 500kW systems in the country over the course of this year.
