PV project developer, Premier Power reported 2011 full-year revenue results of US$70.2 million, including fourth quarter revenue of US$15.5 million. Fourth quarter revenue was down 66% or US$30.6 million from US$46.1 million achieved in the same period in 2010. Full-year results were down 19%, compared to 2010, while non-GAAP operating loss increased to US$3.8 million in 2011, up from US$2.8 million in 2010. This decrease in revenue was said to be mainly due to project delays in Bulgaria that were pushed into the first quarter of 2012.
Big funding deals maybe a thing of the past but overall VC funding deals remain at record levels, according to the latest quarterly report of solar VC funding activity by Mercom Capital Group. Citing a slow start to 2012, VC funding in the first quarter of 2012 reached only US$329 million the lowest dollar amount recorded since Q4 2010. However, 34 deals were reported, suggesting VC’s are taking a lower risk approach to the sector, according to the report authors.
Cogenra Solar and SunWater Solar have installed the largest roof-top PV system in the US on the roof of Kendall-Jackson’s Kittyhawk winery in Windsor, California. The 241kW installation uses 96 solar modules in a hybrid thermal and PV system.
National Solar Power has entered an agreement with solar manufacturer SolarWorld, in which SolarWorld will supply National Solar Power with several millions of solar panels for the company’s projects in Florida. The aim is to build projects totaling 700MW.
A subsidiary of MX Group, Solarday has gone into liquidation, according to a brief statement on its website. The company had opened it module assembly plant in Mezzago, Brianza, Italy in 2006 and had employed over 100 people, claiming it had achieved turnover in 2009 of over €60 million. MX Group had acquired a majority ownership of Solarday in 2011.
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.
The research team at Helmholz-Zentrum, Berlin, Germany, published last month that Beneq produced positive results on the performance of its thin-film PV solar cells manufactured with TCO-glass (transparent conductive oxide). Produced by Beneq nAERO technology, the results show that nAERO-coated TCO glass is a definite candidate for cell manufacturers in need of high-quality fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) TCO glass at an affordable price.
UK-based Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology (OPIT) has promoted Dan Ayres to managing director, effective immediately. Last summer Ayres was appointed to the newly-created role of general manager having already worked at the company for over ten years. He has been based in operations, product management and project management.
