The California Energy Commission (CEC) has approved the construction and operation of two solar-thermal power plants with a planned total capacity of some 500MW at the Palen location in California. The second project location, developed by the American project development unit of the Solar Millennium Group, will therefore go ahead as planned. The entire approval procedure is expected to be completed with the decision by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) at the beginning of next year.
Chevron Energy Solutions, Oceanic Time Warner Cable and Tioga Energy have started construction work on a joint venture at Oceanic's Mililani Tech Park. When completed, the 856KW facility will be the largest solar canopy project on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.
Solarfun Power has officially opened its North American office, located in Cheshire, Connecticut. The new office, which is Solarfun's second location in North America, is aimed at strengthening the company's service to customers and partners in the region. Solarfun also maintains a facility in Costa Mesa, California.
After 30 years as principal scientist at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), Gary Jorgensen is retiring to join SkyFuel as principal materials scientist. Amongst other achievements during his time at the NREL, Jorgensen co-invented ReflecTech Mirror Film, which used in SkyFuel's parabolic trough concentrating solar collector.
The European Commission has awarded Sovello AG €15.5 million of regional investment aid to help build its latest String Ribbon solar-module production facility in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Germany. When completed, the entire project will have received investment totalling €147 million and created 320 jobs in the region.
MEMC has extended its chief financial officer position to Mark Murphy, who will take over for current CFO Tim Oliver. Oliver will remain with MEMC through the end of 2011’s first quarter in a non-executive role, but plans to leave the company for the pursuit of other interests. In addition to his role as CFO at MEMC, Murphy will also take on the role of senior vice president. The transition will be effective on January 10, 2011.
M+W Solar will be developing a turnkey solar PV plant in the Oria region of southern Italy. The 5MWp plant is set to be connected to the national grid during 2011 and produce over 7,000MWh of energy per year. M+W Solar will be overseeing the planning and construction of the solar PV plant along with securing the permits and approvals necessary for construction. The company has secured property rights for the project for twenty years.
New Mexico officials are hailing the 54MW (DC) of solar PV projects in Lea and Eddy counties as the largest in the state once they reach completion. Together with SunEdison and Xcel Energy’s regional operating company Southwestern Public Service, state and county officials gathered for the ground breaking of the solar PV projects.
Meyer Burger Technology has had an impressive few weeks scoring two big orders and has added a third order from a customer in Asia. The US$57.1 million (CHF55 million) deal will see MB Wafertec, a division of Meyer Burger, supply slicing, bricking and automated gluing systems while wafer inspection systems will be delivered by Hennecke Systems. Delivery is scheduled for 2011.
With an efficiency gain of nearly 1% in just six months, SoloPower has had certified a new, wider flexible CIGS module that is capable of producing up to 260Wp and has 12.1% aperture efficiency, as measured by NREL. The SFX3 module is claimed to be the most powerful flexible CIGS module currently in production. SoloPower says it has the first and only flexible CIGS products certified to both UL 1703 and IEC (61646 and 61730) standards.
