Seraphim Solar System’s modules have passed the Italian Certification Authority’s ICIM (Istituto di Certificazione Industriale per la Meccanica) evaluation. ICIM’s assessment covered Seraphim’s entire management system and the certification will be a boon to the Changzhou-based firm’s hopes of establishing itself in Italy’s highly-competitive PV industry.
First Solar and Solar Chile, a subsidiary of Fundación Chile, have agreed to a strategic alliance that will see the companies work together to co-develop solar projects in Chile. First Solar has agreed to provide its PV modules, engineering and procurement services for the projects, which are subject to the execution of definitive project agreements.
Natcore Technology and MX Holding advised that they had mutually signed a letter of intent to form a joint venture for the research and development of efficiency and cost in the solar industry. The R&D work will incorporate Natcore’s liquid phase deposition (LPD) technology combined with work by Dr. Daniele Margadona, CTO of the MX Group.
Inventory writedowns and a weaker-than-expected recovery in demand for PV installations, specifically in Germany, are behind revised financial guidance by Phoenix Solar. The project developer warned of significant losses for the fiscal year 2011 and said it would be looking at its current business model in an effort to make changes and reduce costs to return to profitability in 2012.
JinkoSolar has restarted solar cell production at its plant in Haining, China, after receiving approval by the local Haining government and an appointed panel of experts that remediation work after a fluoride chemical leak satisfied environmental requirements. Clearance by the ‘Experts Committee’ was issued to JinkSolar on October 9, according to the company.
Global Solar Energy, a manufacturer of flexible CIGS thin-film solar panels, has received a TÜV certificate qualifying them for Italy’s Conto Energia IV FiT. In order to benefit, companies have to produce components that are of at least 60% European origin.
UK based Foresight Group has signed a joint venture agreement with Quercus Renewable Energy Fund, a division of the Luxembourg-based Quercus Asset Selection, for the expansion of its investments in the Italian solar PV market. Quercus bought a 50% stake in Foresight’s Luxembourg holding Foresight Lux Co 2, which controls 40% of ForVEI, a company that was established by investors with help from Foresight, who were looking to buy interests in Italian PV plants.
SunEdison and KGAL recently finalized an agreement that sees KGAL buying 33MW of solar PV systems from SunEdison, which are located in Italy and Spain. Financial and specific project details were not released, but the recent acquisition comes after KGAL completed a 20MW purchase from SunEdison in Q2 2011.
Array Technologies has shipped its first solar tracking system for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s (SMUD) 50MW PV installation in south Sacramento County, California. The utility-scale project is being developed by Recurrent Energy with Swinerton Renewable Energy acting as the EPC for the installation.
Yingli Green Energy has upgraded existing warranties for both its mono and multicrystalline products as well as introduced a linear-based extended warranty that guarantees power output for each year of a 25-year warranty period. In addition, its limited product warranty has been increased from 5 to 10-years for all of its PV module products and is now inline with the majority of mainstream module manufacturers. The new warranties are valid for PV modules shipped from its plants from October 1st, 2011.
