ContourGlobal and Guascor Solar have signed a contract to develop 30MW of PV projects in Italy. The first of these projects, a 6MW plant in Sabaudia, is already operational, with a building work on a second 8.5MW development in Sicily scheduled to start in early 2011. The plants will be built by Guascor and owned and operated by ContourGlobal.
In June 2010, Statkraft decided that it would begin to solely focus its business on hydropower, wind power, gas power and district heating and in keeping with its decision, it has sold its Casale solar park to two Italian investors: Eurowood and Blue Stream Resources. All shares of the 3.3MWp solar park, which was owned by Statkraft’s RA1 company, have been signed and closed and are now equally owned between the two Italian companies.
The U.S. Department of the Interior has given its seal of approval to SolarReserve’s Nevada-based Crescent Dunes solar thermal plant. Construction work on the 110MW plant is scheduled to begin in mid-2011, with total costs for the project expected to be around US$475 million.
Chris Robine, who joined SPG Solar in 2010 as the company’s chief financial officer, has now accepted the position of SPG Solar’s chief executive officer. Prior to SPG, Robine was CFO of General Electric’s renewable energy division where he helped the division double its revenue. Additionally, Robine has previously served as a member on the board of PrimeStar.
EME Energie Management Eberlein has partnered with Bosch Solar Energy on a three-year contract for the delivery of 31MWp of thin-film silicon solar modules. EME plans to use the solar modules at various field and rooftop projects in development.
Demand for PV cells and modules remained strong in the third quarter, according to a new report from IMS Research. A new leader appeared in solar cell production in the form of JA Solar, which increased its cell production by an impressive 35% in the quarter to top the rankings for the very first time.
Abengoa Solar will build two 50MW solar thermal plants in Extremadura, Spain with the help of the Japanese trading company, Itochu. Construction work on the Logrosán plants has already begun and they will be operational at some stage in 2012.
SunEdison and Arizona Public Service (APS) will join forces to build a utility-scale PV solar power plant close to the Prescott Regional Airport in Arizona. The 10MW facility is scheduled for grid connection in autumn 2011 and will generate in excess of 25 million kWh of electricity in its first year.
