BrightSource Energy is adding molten salt storage capacity to three concentrating solar power (CSP) plants it is building for Southern California Edison (SCE). The additional capacity will also dispense with the need for one of the seven 200MW power stations BrightSource had agreed to build in the original contract.
Verified by the Fraunhofer ISE Institute, CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium Selenid) thin-film manufacturer, Solibro a subsidiary of Q-Cells has reported a CIGS test module has achieved a new world record conversion efficiency of 17.4%. Earlier this year Solibro produced a record full-module reading of 14.7% in series production.
Solar manufacturing giant Suntech Power has appointed Pawel Nowotny as the new head of its European marketing team. Nowotny will be based out of Suntech’s European headquarters in Schaffhausen, Switzerland and responsible for implementing the company’s long-term brand-building strategy across Europe.
Vertically integrated manufacturer ET Solar has supplied 2.56MW of its mono-crystalline modules for a PV project in France. ET Solar was project developer Classic Energy’s sole module supplier for the array, which was installed on an agricultural greenhouse rooftop in the southern French commune of Cruas. Tritec was contracted as system integrator and the project was grid connected last month.
China has launched a trade probe into US subsidies for renewable energy and is contemplating filing a case with the World Trade Organisation. The probe is the latest episode in the rapidly escalating trade dispute between the two countries that was sparked off by an anti-dumping petition from a group of US manufacturers last month.
Late Friday, November 25, Evergreen Solar issued a statement announcing that senior executives, including CEO, Michael El-Hillow had been sacked with immediate effect on November 21, 2011. The board of directors appointed Christian M. Ehrbar as its new CEO and Paul Kawa as CFO, without providing reasons for the sacking or new appointments. Evergreen Solar is currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and recently conducted a sale of some of its core assets to Max Era Properties Limited.
Algonquin Power has entered into a share purchase agreement with EffiSolar Energy to buy all the issued and outstanding shares in Cornwall Solar and its 110MW project pipeline.
Fraunhofer ISE and Azur Space Solar Power advised that the 15 year partnership for the creation of multi-junction solar cells using III-V semiconductors has been extended for another 20 years by the signing of an agreement of cooperation. Fraunhofer and Azur Space plan to work together over the next two decades to create solar cells that will be used for applications based in space.
Orders from Canada and Azerbaijan for Vitrododi solar glass washers are now being built at a Rimas factory in Holland for Rimas PV manufacturing lines. Vitrododi Solar was acquired by Rimas in July, 2011.
Two more projects handed out under India’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission are set to miss their financial completion deadline, according to Tarun Kapoor a secretary at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
