SolarWorld advised that with the sale of its shares in the South Korea joint venture module plant, the company would be focusing on expanding and improving its module production sites in Germany and the US. Financial details regarding the sale of its shares were not released, but the company advised that its Saxony, California and Oregon production facilities are undergoing expansion in order to meet growing demands. Combined, the three plants are expected to have a total production capacity of more than 1GW by the end of the year.
IKEA has connected the 573kW solar array at its West Sacramento store to the Californian electricity grid. The 65,000-square foot rooftop array was installed by Gloria Solar and it will generate nearly 800,000 kWh of electricity a year.
The Antaris Solar Group has appointed Gerhard Steinebrunner to its senior management team. Steinebrunner joins company founder Michael Goede and Thomas Perr on the expanded team, which is looking to strengthen the company’s presence in both the German and worldwide markets.
Leading French renewable energy producer Fonroche Energie has secured a €52-million credit line with a banking syndicate led by Credit Agricole. This finance will help Fonroche to increase its green portfolio, an expansion plan highlighted by the construction of 20MW of solar greenhouses in France.
Deutsche Bank’s 7.56MW solar park in the southeast Italian commune of Torre Santa Susanna has been officially opened. Torre Santa Susanna is one of the largest tracking solar systems in Europe and is powered by 32,202 Sanyo’s HIT solar modules fitted on Ideematec safetrack technology.
With a meeting schedule to rival ours at Intersolar Europe, 2011 PV-Tech grabbed Commerzbank analyst, Ben Lynch off the show floor to get his insight on current market dynamics and component pricing trends within the PV industry.
Rapidly declining PV module prices are set to fuel a strong recovery in module shipments in the second half of the year, according to the latest analysis from IMS Research. The bullish report is guiding sequential shipment growth of an average of 30% in the third and fourth quarter with full-year shipments forecasted to reach over 23GW.
German laser system supplier 4JET has won the Deutscher Gründerpreis Award 2011. The award, sponsored by Porsche, German magazine Stern, ZDF Television and the Sparkasse Banking Group, was presented to 4JET for not just its exceptional financial growth over the past 12 months but also for creating a business model that promises further growth in the years ahead.
The 6.7MW solar installation at the US General Services Administration (GSA) Denver Federal Center (DFC) is almost complete with all solar installations on the GSA DFC campus anticipated to be online by the end of the year. The latest solar installation has been combined with DFC’s 1.2MW solar park, which was installed in 2007. GSA secured added funding in 2009 to construct the 6.7MW solar installation that is currently being completed.
TecnoSun Solar Systems’ US Division, TecnoSun Solar USA, is settling into its new US headquarters at the University of Toledo’s Nietzsche Commercialization Complex in Ohio. The site will be the home base for the company’s marketing, sales, manufacturing, installation and servicing of its 1 and 2 axis solar tracking systems in North America.
