An important but unintended consequence of the global PV industry meeting at Intersolar Europe, held last week in Munich, Germany was a general fear that the market could decline this year after poor installation figures in key European markets stalled hope of continued growth. According to IHS iSuppli, spot prices from the top Chinese brands had been running at US$1.49 per watt for c-Si modules before Intersolar, yet as the show prices had fallen to US$1.30 per watt. This has prompted the market research firm to guide prices to decline to the US$1 per watt by the first quarter of 2012.
The latest quarterly edition of the ‘U.S. Solar Market Insight’ report, published by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research, reveals continued strong growth in PV installations in the US. Grid-connected PV installations in the first quarter of 2011 increased 66% compared to the same quarter a year ago to reach 252MW. Cumulative grid-connected PV in the US has now reached over 2.3GW, according to the report. PV module production also increased in the US, growing by 17% relative to the fourth quarter of 2010, and up from 297MW to 348MW.
Munich Reinsurance America (Munich Re) has chosen SunPower to design and build its new 2.5MW solar power system in Plainsboro, New Jersey. Construction of the carport system will begin later this year and is scheduled to finish in the second half of 2012.
Tianwei New Energy (Yangzhou), a subsidiary of Baoding Tianwei Group, has signed a contract to supply an unnamed French distributor with 6MW of its polysilicon modules. The first shipment, comprising of 46kW TWY230P660, 295.16kW TWY235P660 and 470.64kW TWY240P660 modules, was delivered in mid-June.
Yingli Green has signed an agreement to supply modules for Etrion’s new 10MW solar project in southeast Italy. The site will feature two separate 5MW ground-mounted systems, located in Brindisi and Mesagne, which have a pencilled in completion date of late August.
Belgian rail network operator Infrabel has opened its new Paris to Amsterdam high-speed rail link tunnel, which features 16,000 solar panels on its 3.4km rooftop. The plant will produce electricity for the railway infrastructure on the Antwerp North-South junction, including signaling, lighting and heating railway stations, as well as powering the trains.
Balance of System designer and manufacturer Bentek Solar has signed a 25MW supply agreement with Borrego Solar. The contract will see Bentek Solar supply a range of disconnecting combiners, re-combiners and disconnect safety systems to be used on Borrego Solar’s commercial and utility scale projects.
Soitec and Schneider Electric have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (Masen) to develop concentrated photovoltaics (CPV) technology in the North African country.
The 37th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, Washington June 19 -24, is ready to welcome the cream of the PV crop. The final program was recently announced with presentations during the week focusing on 10 technical areas, including crystalline silicon technologies, organic PV and space technologies. Over 1,200 technical abstracts from around the world were submitted for consideration, marking a new record for IEEE PVSC.
Santa Clara University’s School of Engineering received a generous gift from an anonymous alumnus and his wife totaling US$1.3 million. The funding will go towards the launch of the Latimer Engineering Scholars Program, which beginning in the 2011 – 2012 academic year will sponsor teaching and research in the sustainable energy field.
