Situated in Deagu, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province of South Korea, Jurasolar’s new 60MW module manufacturing facility is nearing completion and will be opened in May, according to the company. Equipped with tools including a fully automated PV module manufacturing line from German company JvG Thoma, the factory will produce the company’s ‘JvG Desert Modules’, named to reflect their ability to perform in extremely high temperatures of over 125°C.
Cape and Vineyard Electric Cooperative (CVEC) has contracted Broadway Electrical Company with a Round II PV agreement to supply a total of 49.4MW energy for projects in Massachusetts. The company will develop, install and operate 44 PV projects in varying sizes, located in the areas of Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod. Broadway Electrical will sell the energy through a number of 20-year PPAs.
Former CEO of the Carbon War Room, Jigar Shah, and Eric Graber-Lopez of BlueWave Capital will both be speaking at the May 11-12 Solar Future Eastern USA 2012 conference and both agree that within the next five years solar energy in a large part of the US will be cheaper than power from the grid. They cite the continued drop of solar panel costs, combined with transportation costs of electricity increasing as the factors leading to such an expanded solar market.
Yingli Green Energy Holding and China Development Bank have signed a framework agreement for US$324 million in funding according to a report from Bloomberg. The funding will be used for a trade platform in Hong Kong in order to import raw materials.
The Vineyard Electric Cooperative (CVEC) announced that it had awarded its Round II PV contract to Broadway Electrical and Cape, which consists of two tiers of PV installations that amount to 49.37MW of PV capacity. Broadway will design and install 44 PV systems throughout the Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard regions, helping to supply the areas municipal companies’ electricity at a fixed kWh rate for 20 years.
Power Engineering reported that the city of Xigaze in Tibet has a new 30MW solar plant in operation. This is the first phase of a large-scale PV project that is being developed by Linuo Power Group. LDK Solar’s 60MW industrial solar park and Chaorisolar’s 10MW installation are still under construction.
This weekend, Spain will be following in the footsteps of its European cousins, having organised a demonstration against cuts to its solar incentive scheme and energy moratorium. April 22, Earth Day, at noon, Spaniards will march from Santo Domingo Opera Dos de Mayo in the hope their government will take heed of their warning even though similar events in Germany and Italy fell on deaf ears. The UK is currently the only European country to have had any success against curtailing feed-in tariff cuts, no matter how short term the result may be.
Solar collector manufacturer SkyFuel has announced that it now offers insurance on their product warranties. After a year of negotiations, German reinsurer Munich Re has agreed to back SkyFuel’s warranties.
Contrary to figures published by Bloomberg early last week announcing global clean energy investment was down by 22% Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) has published a report in defiance stating that nearly 50,000 clean energy jobs have been created in the US alone, through approximately 137 project proposals in Q1 2012.
SPI Solar recently entered a purchase agreement with the Greek Thermi-Taneo Venture Capital Fund. Thermi-Taneo will acquire three PV projects in the Evros region totalling 7.4MW from SPI. The purchase includes the permits to construct the PV plants as well as the land lease. Further, SPI will act as the EPC contractor for the 7.4MW PV projects, which are expected to complete construction in late 2012.
