A new solar pricing plan from SolarCity has sent shockwaves through the Hawaiian energy generation market by undercutting traditional utility grid electricity prices. Hawaii has the highest energy prices in the US and the new rates will bring solar electricity to residential and business users on Oahu, Maui, Kauai and Lanai from as little as US$60 per month.
Peter Mak, Trina Solar’s independent director and chairman of the audit committee has resigned from his post, effective July 10, in order to focus on other personal and professional pursuits. Jerome Corcoran and Qian Zhao, independent directors for the company, have been appointed chairman of the audit committee and member of the corporate governance and nominating committee respectively.
Convergence Energy’s 1MW solar farm in Delavan, Wisconsin is underway, and DEGERenergie has supplied 114 of its MLD tracking systems of the DEGERtraker 6000NT for the project. Fifteen of these systems have already been implemented at the Delavan location, with the remaining 99 planned for installation over the coming weeks.
Q-Cells has signed a five-year sponsorship deal to become a “Champion Partner” of German football giants Borussia Dortmund. As part of the agreement, the recently-crowned Bundesliga champions have also agreed to install a 920kW solar array on the roof of their Westfalenstadion stadium.
Sybac Photovoltaics has placed an order with Phono Solar for 10MW of its mono and polycrystalline silicon solar modules. The order, which will be delivered before the end of 2011, is the latest step in a strategic partnership between the two firms to install utility-scale projects throughout the US.
PV mounting and systems company Unirac has joined forces with Kyocera Solar to establish a 1.16MW PV installation on the historic Masonic Lodge of New Jersey. The system was designed by NJ Solar Power, framed using Unirac's ISYS Ground Mount (IGM) mounting solution and kitted out with 5,656 of Kyocera’s KD205 modules.
Just three days after Gehrlicher unveiled its 1.2MW system in Bulgaria, P2 Solar has given a further boost to the Eastern European nation’s solar industry by unveiling plans to build a 7.3MW PV plant near the Greek border.
Solar Power Partners (SPP) and JCM Capital have signed a contract with Avacos Clean Energy, to provide long-term equity financing for its portfolio of rooftop solar arrays in Ontario. Funding will cover both the planning and construction of systems with a combined capacity of up to 20MW across the province.
CIS thin-film module manufacturer Solar Frontier has started shipping 150W modules with 12.2% conversion efficiencies after accelerating its production roadmap and achieving production targets ahead of schedule at its Kunitomi plant in Japan. Based on ‘keen’ interest in its low-cost, high-yield technology, which benefits from the ‘light soaking effect', unique to CIS technology, Solar Frontier said shipments were going to customers on a global basis, though quantity figures were not released.
Skyline Solar has announced the news that it has been awarded with three new patents in relation to its scalable CPV technology, two of which were awarded through the US Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) Green Technology Pilot Program. The patents take the total number of CPV-related patents to seven for the company, and include 108 specific claims regarding BOS system and LCOE cost reduction innovations.
