News

The European Commission recently approved a US$126.8 million (€97.5 million) regional investment aid, which German authorities will be endowing to Wacker Chemie to produce solar grade polysilicon in Nünchritz, eastern Germany. The EU Commission concluded that the act was in line with the requirements for the Regional Aid Guidelines 2007-2013. The US$126.8 million grant will go towards the expansion of Wacker’s facility in Nünchritz, which will add a solar grade polysilicon plant next to its silicon/silane plant.

Azure Power has welcomed Glen Minyard to its team as the new vice president of design and engineering. The company is looking at Minyard to oversee its commercial and off-grid business, deeming him a solar power veteran. He was the founder of Minyard Solar Electric  and brings over thirty years of experience in covers design, supply, project management and complete installation of residential and large-scale commercial PV  and renewable energy projects.

The California Energy Commission has given its unanimous approval to Solar Millennium to build and operate the Blythe Solar Power Project in Riverside County, a planned 1GW concentrated solar power (CSP) plant that would be one of the largest solar generating stations in the world. Construction on the first pair of four planned 250MW parabolic-trough CSP sections is scheduled to begin by the end of the year.

Adding to the company’s ever-expanding portfolio of large-scale installations, SunEdison has won the contract to provide a 14.5MW ground-mounted solar power installation at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (DMAFB) in Tucson, Arizona. The agreement will see SunEdison look after the financing, design, construction, operation and maintenance of the ~130 acre site, which, upon completion, will provide as much as 35% of DMAFB’s energy needs.

A B2B forum scheduled to run from October 12th to 14th has been arranged with the intention of creating some form of cooperation between solar ventures and plans in Russia and Bulgaria. The “Rising Opportunities - 1st Russian Bulgarian Solar Business Forum” will take place in the Palm Beach hotel in Golden Sands, Bulgaria, and all important actors in both the solar PV and solar thermal sectors are expected to attend.

The global PV market is set to soar higher than previously expected, according to solar inverter market leader, SMA Solar Technology. As a result, the company has raised its revenue guidance for the year, the second time it has done so in 2010. SMA Solar now expects the global photovoltaics market to reach approximately 17GW of new installations in 2010 and with more than 40% of the inverter market, is guiding revenue of between €1.7 and €1.9 billion. Previously, SMA Solar had forecasted the PV market would reach 14GW and company revenue of €1.5 to €1.8 billion.

With a string of large orders announced and major capacity expansion plans continuing in the wafering sector, Mayer Burger - not surprisingly - posted strong first-half financial results for 2010. Sales increased by 67% to CHF 356.9 million with organic growth of 36% compared to the same period in 2009. Growth from previous M&A activities was 31%. New order bookings for the first six months stood at CHF 590.1 million, pushing the order backlog to CHF 770.0 million. Meyer Burger expects full-year sales to reach CHF 730 million, highlighting the potential for strong results in 2011.

Throughout  classrooms in Arizona, students will soon not only go to school knowing that they’re learning environment is using renewable energy, but will also have the chance to learn about emission-free solar power generation. Kennedy Partners with NRG Solar, Pinnacle West, APS and Arizona public officials have all partnered for the creation of a clean energy program, with the first stage seeing NRG Solar and Kennedy constructing twelve large solar pavilions...

The Transgreen Initiative was recently developed to foster the development of a Trans-Mediterranean electric power transmission network within the Mediterranean Solar Plan. Joining with the initiative is Concentrix Solar, a division of Soitec. The company joins the initiative in order to help sustain the expected needs for electricity between the two sides of the Mediterranean.

Wills Transfer, working with Enfinity Canada, will be implementing rooftop solar systems on three of its warehouses. The rooftops used will be located at Wills’ Ottawa, Brockville and Perth, Ontario locations. Enfinity will be financing, developing, monitoring and maintaining the three rooftop systems, which will have a total installed capacity of 1.308MWp and produce around 1.5 million kilowatt hours per year. Construction is slated to begin early in 2011.