Oregon-based SolarWorld announced that along with seven other US manufacturers, it had petitioned the US federal government to stop what it calls, “an ever-increasing tide of heavily subsidized solar cells and panels that China’s state-supported solar industry is illegally dumping into the American market.” Spearheaded under the name, The Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing, the group filed complaints with both the US Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission.
Hong Kong-based GCL-Poly has signed a contract to help fund and build two PV plants, with a combined capacity of 84MW, in the California Central Valley. Work on both sites is scheduled to begin in the coming months and grid connection is pencilled in for early 2012.
Solar energy is fast becoming a ‘sunrise’ sector in India and it has started attracting considerable interest from financial investors as well as cross-border partnerships.
At Solar Power International 2011 in Dallas this week, the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) announced the results of the 2011 SEPA Solar Business Achievement Awards.
The Solar Electric Power Association has presented Tucson Electric Power (TEP) with a Solar Business Achievement Award for its Bright Tucson Community Solar Program. The scheme allows customers to purchase solar energy directly from local solar arrays in TEP’s catchment area.
This past month has seen Conergy secure orders for various solar power plants totalling more than 5MW in the USA. Conergy has provided three different states with project development services, planning, financing, engineering, procurement, construction, permitting and operations and maintenance.
A 25-year veteran in the business and financial business sectors, Bob Kelly has joined SolarCity as the company’s new chief financial officer. In his new role, Kelly will oversee the company’s financial affairs as well as its corporate, project financing and accounting units.
Founded by SunPower, SolarBridge Technologies, SolarEdge and Tigo Energy, the Universal PV Interface Alliance (UPVI) saw its official launch at Solar Power International 2011 and welcomed Enecsys and T-Conn Precision as its first additional members. The organization is dedicated as an industry association that works toward the development of a standard, universal electrical and mechanical interface between PV modules and embedded module-level electronics or cable assemblies.
SunCap Financial has selected Suniva to supply its high-efficiency panels for the SunCap Solar Lease Program, which aims to allow US homeowners a more economically sound option when it comes to the design, installation and financing of a custom solar array for their home. The companies noted that Suniva’s Optimus modules, powered by ARTisun solar cells, would be offered through the lease program and come with a 25-year linear power performance warranty.
Germany’s solar industry has endured a difficult year and the Federal Network Agency and transmission system operators (TSO) have responded accordingly by leaving the Renewable Energy Law (EEG) levy virtually unchanged at €0.3592 per kWh.
