Alex Solar, a R&D, manufacture, sales and technical service provider for crystalline silicon solar modules and PV application systems, announced its latest investment in an 8MW solar power plant located in Potsdam, Berlin. The company noted that this is one of several investments it is making in solar projects throughout Berlin and Munich.
Hemlock Semiconductor has named Andrew Tometich as its new president. Tometich will start his new role immediately, where he will work alongside current chief executive officer Richard Doornbos.
Air Products has appointed Stephen J. Jones as China president, in an effort to promote the company’s next stage of growth in China. Jones will be based in Shanghai and will also remain as senior vice president and general manager of Global Tonnage Gases, Equipment and Energy, a position he has held since 2009.
Ubbink East Africa, Centrotec Sustainable's Dutch subsidiary, has opened East Africa's first PV module factory in Naivasha, Kenya. Ubbink plans to produce around 30,000 modules a year, with the majority of these being used to cater for the growing number of small-scale systems in Africa.
Avancis PowerMax copper indium selenide (CIS) thin-film PV modules have been certified for higher reimbursement entitlements in Italy. Because the panels are made in Germany, Italian system operators who purchase the products can be eligible for a 10% higher feed-in rate that will apply for 20 years.
Previously delayed 10MW Helios ITA-3 PV solar power project in Puglia, Italy, built by ABB for independent solar power producer, Etrion has been completed ahead of its revised schedule, according to the company. A syndicate of banks, including Natixis, WestLB and Mediocreval, provided 80% of the financing for the project with an 18-year, non-recourse loan.
Akuo Solar, a subsidiary of French independent power producer Akuo Energy, will use 75,000 SunPower E19 modules for two PV power plants in the Provence-Alps-Cotes d'Azur region in the south of France. Construction of the PV power plant has already started and is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.
Hanwha Group has signed an exclusive partnership with Hamburger SV. Under the terms of the two-year exclusive partnership, Hanwha will carry out a wide range of advertising campaigns in Hamburg’s Imtech Arena and was also granted naming rights for the club’s pre-season tournament, the Hanwha Solar Cup.
According to The Hindu Business Line, the role of chairman for India’s National Solar Energy Company is to be filled by Dr Anil Kakodkar, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.
Schott Solar advised that it had achieved 20.2% efficiency on its monocrystalline screen-printed solar PV cell; a feat that was confirmed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE). The 4.92W cell uses an industrial sized 156mm x 156mm wafer, which led Schott to maintain that this is the first PV cell of its size to reach this efficiency.
