News

North Star Solar, the wholly owned affiliate of NorthLight Power - the joint-venture between REC and the Summit Power Group - has signed a 60MW solar power purchase agreement with Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E). NorthLight Power will act as project developer of the project, which will be located in Mendota, Fresno County, California.

Solar inverter market leader SMA Solar almost reached its production capacity limit as semiconductor component supply constraints eased. Third-quarter sales reached a record €626.7 million and totalled €1.44 billion for the first nine months of the year. SMA reiterated that it still expects newly installed PV power of up to 17GW in 2010, with German solar installations running at about 5.3GW through the end of September.

Despite an ongoing ramp of its Malaysia-based Fab 3 cell production plant that will increase its megawatt production by 65% in 2011, Tom Werner, CEO of SunPower, noted in its third-quarter financial conference call that demand for its products exceeded supply both in the second-half of this year but also going into 2011.

San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) agreed to a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with CSolar Development, a subsidiary of Tenaska Solar ventures, for the development of up to 130MW of solar PV power. A proposed 900-acre site in Imperial County, called “Imperial Solar Energy Center South,” will hold the solar project, which is expected to reach completion in 2014. The 130MW project will use the 120-mile Sunrise Powerlink, presumed to reach completion in 2012, to deliver the energy produced at the facility to customers in the SDG&E service territory.

REC Solar and SunEdison came together with Mayor Gary Svanda  and Madera city council members to officially turn on the city’s newest solar project: a 1.1MW solar installation at Madera’s wastewater treatment plant. The new solar project will produce over 2.4 million kWh of energy per year and around 45 million kWh over 20 years.

Pull-forward effects of the reduction in the feed-in tariff in Germany, despite efforts to diversify overseas, contributed to S.A.G. Solarstrom’s revenue guidance for 2010 of reaching between €190 and €201 million. Group sales increase by 82.5 % to €139.5 million in the first nine months of the year.

Government officials and executives from CPS Energy, Duke Energy and juwi solar stood together as the Blue Wing Solar Project was dedicated in San Antonio, Texas. The 14MW solar installation, constructed on 113-acres using 214,500 solar PV modules, is claimed as being the largest solar project to date in Texas. The Blue Wing Solar Project began full operation almost two months ahead of schedule and will generate over 26,570MWh of electricity per year.

Spire released its third-quarter financial results for the period that ended September 30. The company reported US$20.6 million in revenues from continuing operations, showing a 24.6% increase from the same period during 2009, which resulted in US$16.6 million. Spire’s net loss for the third quarter came in at US$915,000, a marked improvement from 2009’s third-quarter net loss which totaled at US$3.5 million.

(Update) Having started production of its monolithically integrated flexible thin-film CIGS modules in May, Ascent Solar is attempting to gain further funding via a common stock offering to ramp its FAB2 production plant in Colorado to a capacity of 30MW. The company will offer 5.25 million shares at $4.15 per share to the public, from which the company hopes to raise $20.25 million.

aleo solar has raised it 2010 revenue forecast for the third time this year as strong pull-forward effects of the German feed-in tariff cuts and growth in other European markets are expected to see revenue reach €500 million, up from an initial forecast of €420 million, earlier this year. Revenue for the first nine months of 2010 was €412 million, an 86.6% increase over the same period in 2009.