REC Solar and KIUC recently held a kick-off meeting with Homestead Community Development Corporation (HCDC) in order to initiate the next steps of the 12MW solar project the companies will be installing on Hawaiian Homelands in Anahola on the northeast side of Kauai. REC Solar won the contract for the project in December, marking it as the second utility-scale project the company has developed for KIUC.
UK-based organic thin film start-up, Eight19 has installed roll-to-roll printing equipment at its Cambridge, UK headquarters as a preliminary move towards volume production, as reported by PV-Tech’s sister-site, Solar Power Portal UK. Thought to be the largest of its kind in Europe, the bespoke facility includes a multi-station roll-to-roll fabrication machine which is designed to manufacture solar substrates. Eight19 expects to have the first of its commercial printed plastic solar modules available in 2013.
US crystalline silicon solar cells and modules, Suniva, has announced that Sunetric has been named as Hawaii’s first elite dealer of the Optimus line of Suniva’s solar modules.
Having bucked plans to aggressively pursue potential new markets in the Middle-East, Phoenix Solar has found the eastern-edge of Europe as a better bet, signing an exclusive partnership with Turkey’s leading installer, iRES Enerji.
Struggling Dutch module manufacturer, Solland Solar said it was forced to drastically reduce its remaining operations after the successful sale of its solar cell production facility, due to tough market conditions. Both its commercial and module assembly operations are being curtailed, without providing details, affecting approximately 100 employees.
Zep Solar advised that three of its latest PV continuing education courses had been approved and registered by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners’ (NABCEP), giving NABCEP certified PV installers the option to receive continuing education units for training on Zep’s mounting and grounding products. The approved Zep curriculum includes a two-hour “Zep System: Design and Installation” course and a four-hour intermediate and six-hour advanced course options.
San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has filed with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for approval of a proposal offering its customers solar purchasing options. The proposal complements rooftop solar and includes two different pilot programs. Customers can opt buy some or all of their energy from solar projects located in SDG&E's service territory or negotiate directly with a local solar provider, even if they do not own a home, cannot afford a solar investment, or do not have the ability to put photovoltaic panels on their roof.
MEMC has been forced to lower fourth quarter revenue guidance, just over a month after revisions were made as the company announced a major restructuring effort due to lower than expected PV project interconnections carried out by project developer subsidiary, SunEdison. MEMC revised revenue to be in the range of US$698 million to US$733 million, compared to December, 2011 guidance of between US$789 million to US$861 million.
JinkoSolar has announced that it has connected China Guangdong Nuclear Solar Energy Development’s 18MW PV power plant to China’s grid. The plant, located in Dunhuang, Gansu Province in west China, consists of 76,000 of JinkoSolar’s modules on a plot area of 400,000m2.
