A single-junction organic photovoltaic solar cell with a surface area of 1 square centimetre has been demonstrated by Konarka Technologies to have a 8.3% efficiency.
EDF Energies Nouvelles has commissioned two solar photovoltaic power plants in Italy with a combined capacity of 26.1MWp. The first plant, located in Loreo, northern Italy will be a 12.6MWp ground-based project. The second, 13.5MWp facility is to be constructed in Priolo, in the south of the country. Both plants will utilize thin-film panels supplied by First Solar.
For the past four months universities all over the world have been submitting proposals for the Solar Decathlon Europe (SDE) 2012 competition in Madrid, Spain. The inscription period has now closed with 33 teams out of 47 going through to the final selection stage.
The German government is looking to temper growth in solar panel installation in an attempt to protect consumers from rising costs. Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union fear that the escalating costs of solar power may lead to a fall in demand and undermine the acceptance of alternative energy.
Spain has made a decision to freeze the beginning of the country's €13.5 billion program to sell state-guaranteed power bonds until government debt-market volatility abates. Bank workers, who had begun calculating investor interest in the first tranche of bonds, will now have to wait until the yield stabilises on the country's debt.
Despite the deteriorating opportunities for ground-mounted solar parks in the Czech Republic, E.ON has commissioned a 4.2MWp solar park using 17,500 PV modules from Solarwatt. According to Solarwatt, the mono-crystalline modules were installed without a hitch in a construction period of only 10 weeks.
Having received UK Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) accreditation, aleo solar will be marketing its poly and mono-crystalline solar modules in the UK. The certification covers aleo modules S_16, S_17, S_18, S_19, S_24 and S_77. The company said it would be supporting installers with the design process through to after sales support services.
