China Sunergy has signed a module supply contract for the world’s largest stand-alone building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) project in Nanjing, China, reports Design-Build Solar. CEEG Solar Energy Research Institute has agreed to purchase 7MW of modules for its rooftop project at Nanjing South Railway Station, which, upon its completion, will be one of the most energy efficient public buildings in China.
North Jersey Media Group has enlisted the help of KDC Solar to build a PV facility to power its Rockaway printing and packaging facility. With 20,400 panels, the plant will be among the largest in New Jersey and generate around 4.2 million kWh of electricity a year; construction work on the site will run from January to December, 2011.
LDK Solar has paid US$33 million for a 70% stake in PV solutions developer Solar Power. LDK's involvement will help with the development and management of Solar Power’s project pipeline, which primarily consists of utility-scale power plants and commercial and industrial generation systems.
On January 1, 2011, Oregon’s Department of Energy put new rules into effect, which have allowed for SolarCity to offer its first residential solar lease in the State. As of the first of this year, Oregon residents who lease their solar systems are able to receive the residential tax credit (RETC), which was previously only offered to customers who had purchased their system. Since the credits cannot be passed onto SolarCity, the company will allow its customers to postpone the remaining system cost that is not covered by the lease payments until the customer receives their RETC.
Led by Austin Venture, Lincoln Renewable Energy (LRE) has closed its most recent round of private funding at US$14 million. Aside from Austin Ventures, contributors also included private investors and LRE management and founding investors. Furthermore, Ken DeAngelis, general partner, and Clark Jernigan, venture partner, and both part of Austin Ventures, will become members of LRE’s board.
Colexon Energy closed out 2010 with the sale of three of its solar power plants to an undisclosed Irish investment company. The €11.5-million sale marks the largest order volume of Colexon in the Italian market to date. The three plants: Leo at 998kWp, Corvo at 997kWp and Valle at 997kWp were developed and constructed as turnkey projects by Colexon Italia, a subsidiary of Colexon Energy.
Zigor has agreed to work with Guascor Solar and supply inverters and cabinets for two of Guascor Solar’s Italian PV plants. The total power for the two fixed structures will stand at 10.5MW with Zigor delivering its Sunzet 125MV inverter, grouped in a 500kW configuration.
Plutonic Power and GE Energy Financial Services have agreed to buy three of First Solar’s power plants in Ontario, Canada. Permitting for the projects, which have a combined capacity of 50MW, is expected to take place this spring and construction scheduled to start in June.
NanoMarkets has published a new report claiming that novel encapsulation and substrate materials are the key to the long-term survival of organic photovoltaics (OPV) and dye-sensitized cell (DSC) photovoltaics. The report, titled 'Encapsulation and Flexible Substrates for Organic and Dye-Sensitized Photovoltaics', predicts that a US$1.3 billion encapsulation and substrate market will be possible by 2017, if manufacturers of these materials can offer products that will facilitate use of OPV and DSC technology into the building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) sector.
TerniEnergia has completed the construction of 31 industrial sized photovoltaic plants, together totalling 33.3MWp. A sum of 4.4MWp was developed for Joint Venture’s power generation business, with the remaining built on behalf of third parties. The new plants are located in Sardegna, Umbria, Lazio, Puglia, Piemonte, Abruzzo, Veneto, Toscana e Campania regions.