Tom Cheyney

US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has greenlighted the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm, a 550MW (AC) solar power project to be developed, built, and operated by First Solar on 4100 acres of public lands in the California desert outside Joshua Tree National Park. Construction on the site could begin within days.

The continued construction and eventual interconnection of what will be the world’s largest solar PV power plant now seems assured. The US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office has finalized a $967 million loan guarantee for the 290MW (AC) Agua Caliente solar project in Arizona, thus triggering the purchase close of the project by NRG Energy from First Solar. The plant could start generating electricity for PG&E as early as the end of this year.

ReneSola said it has progressed on two manufacturing fronts, with the start of trial production of its in-house steel wire used for slicing solar wafers and the development of a new generation of higher capacity casting furnaces.

One of the largest solar PV power plants in North America will be expanded, nearly quadrupling its generating capacity in a few years. Pacific Gas and Electric and Sempra Generation have signed a 25-year contract for a 150MW (AC) expansion of Sempra Generation’s Copper Mountain Solar complex in Boulder City, NV. First Solar will provide millions of ground-mounted thin-film CdTe panels and serve as the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor for the 1100-acre project.

Independent power developer K Road Power Holdings and Barclays Natural Resource Investments have established a partnership aimed at the development, construction, and operations of K Road’s utility-scale solar power portfolio. The developer has 11 solar projects totaling nearly 2.3GW in various stages of development in the southwestern US.

AEG Power Solutions has acquired the outstanding 25% of Skytron Energy after buying a majority stake in 2010. Under the existing management of Martin Sauter, Skytron will stay a separate legal entity with its own brand. The companies said they will jointly take advantage of the strong global growth within the solar market, especially in India. Other business opportunities are developing operations and maintenance business as well as smart-grid solutions.

Spire has begun the expansion of its Advanced Technology Center (ATC) lab at its corporate headquarters in Bedford, MA, with updated equipment for customer evaluation and factory training. The new Spire systems installed include a larger format laminator and electroluminescence crack detection system, as well as next-generation assembler and simulator gear.

Citing the “deterioration in the overall industry climate as well as delays in the recognition of sales and earnings for projects currently under way,” Roth & Rau has cut expectations for the second half of 2011 and withdrawn its forecast guidance for the year. “Given the reduction in demand for solar modules,” the company stated, “some customers have reviewed their investment projects intended to expand their production capacities and postponed the agreed delivery dates.”

EDF Energies Nouvelles unit enXco has bolstered its solar business unit with the addtion of Kristina Peterson as VP, Damien Buie as director of solar innovation, and David Carroll as manager of solar engineering and construction. A former CEO of Mayflower Partners, Peterson joins the firm from Suntech America, where she served as VP of business development and project finance and was a key part of the team building the company's operations in the US over the past few years.

On the heels of awarding a $16 million loan to Azure Power for a solar photovoltaic project in India, the Export-Import Bank of the United States said it is providing a $9.2 million long-term loan to support exports of Colorado-based Abound Solar's CdTe thin-film PV modules to Punj Lloyd Solar Power for a 5MW power plant in Rahjasthan.