Canadian Solar has announced that its solar modules have passed salt spray corrosion testing by independent body TÜV NORD, certifying them for use in coastal or marine environments.
In spite of reports at the beginning of January about Indian project developers campaigning for extensions on deadlines for commissioning solar projects, GMR Energy has announced the completion of a 25MW grid-interactive solar power project.
Verified by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Q-Cells said it had set new conversion efficiency records for multicrystalline and quasi-mono solar modules. A module with 60 multicrystalline solar cells, using its ‘Q.ANTUM’ cell concept was reported to have achieved 18.5% efficiency, up from a record Q-Cells claimed it had achieved of 18.1% last year. The market introduction of the Q.ANTUM solar cells and modules is planned for 2012 with pilot production at its advanced facility in Thalheim, Germany already underway.
Better than expected revenue figures have been reported by aleo solar, though previously guided losses of €25-€30 million are still expected for the full-year 2011, according to the company. aleo solar had previously guided revenue to be in the region of €440 million but this has been raised to €462 million, down 17% compared to 2010 revenue of €554 million.
Announced in conjunction with the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, cadmium-telluride (CdTe) thin film leader, First Solar has achieved a new total area efficiency record for its standard-sized modules of 14.4%. NREL was said to have confirmed the record, which was previously held by First Solar at 13.4%. Actual volume production of modules with efficiencies between 14.5-15%, are expected in 2015. First Solar reached volume production of modules with an efficiency of 11.7% in 2011.
Having placed greater emphasis on its project business as part of its restructuring efforts, MEMC, via its subsidiary, SunEdison, is reported to be planning a major move to become a key project developer in Japan. The reports claim that the company is in discussions with provincial authorities for PV projects totalling 1GW with an investment of US$4.6 billion over a 5-year period.
Following a successful trial project in 2010, Brussels Airport has now installed 7,220 monocrystalline solar panels to its logistics building at Brucargo West. With a total capacity of 1.7MWp and an annual energy production of 1,500MWh, this output is comparable to the annual energy consumption of about 450 families. The energy produced is injected straight into the airport’s power grid and will cover about 1% of the annual consumption of the airport.
BlueChip Energy has announced that the Commission of the City of Eustis, Lake County, US, authorized the mayor to execute a commercial lease with the company for 300 acres of land to be developed into a 60MW solar farm. The property, owned by the city, was use for as a wastewater spray field and is no longer needed.
The UK solar industry has finally received some good news this week, with the opening of a solar panel manufacturing facility in Jarrow, South Tyneside, creating more than 20 jobs.
For the second consecutive year after autumn 2009, preliminary estimates of electricity demand in Italy last year shows a 0.6% growth on 2010. The total energy demand in 2011 amounted to 332.3 billion kWh. PV accounted for 2.8% out of 64.7% of domestic production. However, the net national production (289.2 billion kWh) is a decrease of 0.5% compared to 2010.
