Specialty gas supplier Air Liquide has announced that over the course of the past few weeks, it has signed long-term gas supply contracts worth in the region of US$15 million. The company credits the reduction in manufacturing costs and the subsequent move by smaller companies to move into high growth markets as having contributed to the significant increase in orders experienced by the company.
Continuing its expansion into the US, Canadian Solar has announced that it has been awarded the module supply contract for a 2.1MW solar installation at St. Peter's University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The company will supply almost 10,000 of its 6P 240P modules for the project, which will comprise two rooftop arrays, three solar canopies on parking lots and another solar canopy on the roof of a multi-floor parking structure.
Two top executives of controversial thin-film PV company Solyndra won't be offering any substantive testimony before a Congressional subcommittee hearing scheduled for Friday. The company has issued a statement that, because of the ongoing investigation and on the advice of their lawyers, president/CEO Brian Harrison and CFO Bill Stover will invoke their constitutional Fifth Amendment rights, which protects citizens from self-incrimination.
Solar Frontier will be starting to put its Kunitomi plant to serious work as it recently closed a deal to supply over 30MW of its CIS solar modules to solar projects in India by the end of 2011. The deal with the National Solar Mission and Gujarat State intends to use Solar Frontier’s CIS modules in various solar projects as the company’s modules are said to deliver higher overall energy output under real weather conditions.
Saint-Gobain has begun construction on its first manufacturing plant in North America. Located in Goodyear, Arizona, the facility will house the company’s mirror line for solar thermal power stations and supply the domestic US market. The plant, with an estimated production capacity that corresponds to an annual thermal output of 300MW, is anticipated to be online by the 2011 fourth quarter.
China Datang is planning to use solar modules from Tianwei New Energy for the first time on a 10MW ground-mounted project project in Delhi, Qinghai Province, China. The module supply agreement requires Tianwei to ship between September and October the full 10MW of modules directly to the project.
US pharmacy Walgreens has chosen SoCore Energy to install PV systems at 90 of its stores in Ohio. This new portfolio will have a capacity of 2MW and increase the number of arrays on Walgreens stores to 136; the first 53 in this next wave of installations are due to be completed by November 11. The individual systems are being leased for 10 years to Walgreens, which will equip them with Power-One inverters and SolarWorld’s 240W crystalline silicon panels.
Cleantech finance company De Lage Landen has finalized an agreement that will see the company’s Clean Technology Group team up with Tioga Energy to provide long-term financing for an 856kW solar project in Honolulu, Hawaii. Built for Oceanic Time Warner at its Mililani Tech Park, the project is a combination rooftop and solar parking canopy and is said to be the largest of its kind in the state of Hawaii.
Commercial operation has begun at Western Wind Energy’s Kingman I wind and solar project in Mohave County, Arizona. The 10.5MW system is the first purpose-built joint wind and solar project in North America and the electricity generated will be sold to Unisource Electric Services.
A new report from Greenpeace has claimed that a switch to renewable energy sources would allow Japan to permanently close its entire nuclear portfolio by 2012 without jeopardizing economic growth. Findings from the "Advanced Energy [R]evolution Report for Japan" have put a further nail in the coffin of an industry still reeling from the fallout of March’s Fukushima nuclear plant disaster.
