Solon SE has sold its Swiss subsidiary, Solon Inverters AG, to Delta Energy Systems. The companies have chosen not to disclose the details of the sale, which is the latest stage in Solon SE's plan to concentrate resources on key markets and products.
NRG Solar has purchased First Solar's 290MW Agua Caliente solar plant in Yuma County, Arizona. When it is completed in 2014, Agua Caliente is expected to become the world's largest operational PV facility and supply electricity for more than 225,000 homes in the region.
The board of directors for China Technology Development Group (CTDC) have newly appointed Liao Lin-Hsiang as the chief operating officer and Bruno Diaz Herrera as chief technology officer effective December 13, 2010. Liao will take over for Lu Zhenwei who resigned from his COO position, but has continued on as executive director for CTDC.
A new report by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research entitled, U.S. Solar Energy Trade Assessment 2010, found that the U.S. not only has a strong solar industry, but is a leader in the net exportation of solar energy products. In 2009, US$723 million worth of net exports came from the U.S. alone.
Solar Semiconductor and Solaria have entered into an agreement where Solar Semiconductor will produce Solaria’s solar modules at its Hyderabad, India manufacturing plant. Solaria looks at this move as a strategic way to meet demands for its solar modules in India. In addition to producing its solar modules in India, Solaria is also expanding its Fremont, California manufacturing plant to help meet the needs of the U.S. and other markets.
Updated: In an attempt to nearly double capital expenditure by as much as US$1.1 billion over the next two years, First Solar hopes to achieve sales of between US$3.7 billion and US$3.9 billion in 2011 as new capacity comes on stream. The financial projection was given as part of its conference call to discuss 2011 operating performance for the thin-film PV leader. First Solar also expects net module sales of US$2.8 billion and US$2.9 billion with US$0.9 billion to US$1.0 billion of EPC/project development sales in 2011.
Mannington Township has approved Lincoln Renewable Energy's planning application for its 10MW Cedar Solar farm in Salem County, New Jersey. Lincoln Renewable plan to start work at the 129-acre site in early 2011, with construction costs estimated at US$60 million.
Manfred Bächler has resigned from his position as Phoenix Solar's chief technology officer. Bächler will also be stepping down from the Phoenix Solar executive board, citing personal reasons for his decision.
SunPower has won the right to design and build a 1MW PV system near Tucson, Arizona. The ground-mounted facility, which is scheduled to be completed in March 2011, will double the city of Tucson's solar capacity and is to be built on 10 acres of recovered agricultural land owned by the city's water department.
