Tenaska Solar Ventures has chosen Soitec’s Concentrix concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) technology to power its new 150MW Imperial Solar Energy Center (ISEC) West plant in Southern California, with local utility SDG&E agreeing to buy the power generated from the site under a 25-year PPA. The company also announced plans to build a 200MW capacity CPV module manufacturing facility in the San Diego area. The ISEC West project has applied for a DOE loan guarantee as well.
BTU International’s Shanghai, China manufacturing plant has shipped its 3000th thermal processing unit since its opening in February of 2004. During the seven years the plant has been in operation, it has gone through several modifications and expansions, including a 2008 addition of a solar application lab. The plant earned ISO 9001:2008 certification for its observance of high quality standards in 2009.
Akrion Systems has appointed Dr. Mehran Asdigha as its new vice president of engineering. Asdigha joins the surface preparation specialists from BlueShift Technologies where he was senior vice president of engineering.
Energy Smart is raising the profile of solar energy in the Baltics by building a 100kWp pilot plant in Kurenurme, Estonia. Foundations for the system’s 11 tracker towers were laid last week and, when completed, they will each hold 42 solar panels.
SunPower has signed a contract to supply Toshiba with 48MW of its solar panels over the coming Japanese fiscal year. Last year, Toshiba ordered 32MW of panels and the contract renewal will help cater for increasing demand in the Japanese residential solar sector.
Dr. Thomas Surek is known as a pioneer of terrestrial PV research who started his 37-year career with his growth of shaped silicon crystals at Harvard University in 1973. Recently, Surek has been appointed to Magnolia Solar’s technical advisory board (TAB) where he will be able to help the company further its promotion of PV systems as an alternative energy source. His experience in the field includes research at Mobil Tyco Solar Energy and a contributor to the large-scale commercialization of the edge-defined film-fed growth (EFG) process through his shaped crystal growth of silicon.
Shams Power has closed financing on its 100MW Shams 1 concentrated solar power (CSP) project in Madinat Zayed, United Arab Emirates. When completed, Shams 1 will be one of the largest CSP systems in the world, with investment coming from 10 major financial institutions and totalling US$600 million.
Orbotech LT Solar has received the first order for its newly-developed anti-reflective wafer coating product. The beta site order is to be delivered in the second quarter of 2011 and follows on from the successful initial testing of the product.
BlueChip Energy has bought a large plot of land in Lake County, Florida for the development of a 40MW solar farm. When completed, the ground-mounted system will be the largest in the state and generate around 64-million kWh of electricity per annum.
Commemorating the opening of what has been deemed the world’s first hybrid solar power plant, Florida Power & Light was joined by state senators, public officials, business leaders and Florida’s Governor Rick Scott on the site of their 500-acre Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center in Martin County, Florida.
