The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has approved two 25-year power purchase agreements between Pacific Gas and Electric and BrightSource Energy for electricity generated at a pair of concentrating solar-thermal power stations scheduled to be built in the deserts of Southern California. The initial project, a 110MW power plant in Ivanpah Solar Power Complex, will be located on six square miles of land about 50 miles northwest of Needles in the Mojave Desert and is slated to begin operations by July 2012. A second, 200MW installation is scheduled to start operating a year later at the site.
DuPont is providing further details of a multi-phase production expansion for its Tedlar polyvinyl fluoride (PVF) product line, this represents more than $120 million in investment, which increases the capacity of monomer and resin used in producing Tedlar films, by over 50%.
New Zealand-based renewable energies company Meridian Energy has taken over Cleantech America, Inc., the utility-scale PV solar plant developer. The acquisition marks Meridian’s first venture into the solar power sector, having previously been mainly involved in wind and hydroelectric projects. Meridian will now manage the operation of Cleantech’s 5MW CalRENEW-1 solar facility in Mendota, CA.
GreenVolts, PV technology development and commercialization company has brought in Wayne Miller as Vice President of Engineering to head the product development efforts as the company focuses on further innovation and commercialization of its CPV system.
SolarPVGLOBE, major news partner of PV-Tech has launched the first pilot issue of 'SolarPV.TV Weekly News', welcoming all those interested solar PV to discover and enjoy video summaries of the industry and up-to-date interviews with key solar players.
The rapid decline of conventional crystalline based solar modules due to weak demand and massive over-capacity throughout the supply chain has forced CPV manufacturer, Emcore to take a long hard look at its terrestrial CPV business model. In its most recent quarterly conference call company executives said that they would concentrate on solar cell receivers with 1,000 times concentrated reflected optics development and supply while licence and partner on complete systems.
In a ground-breaking ceremony held Aug. 19, RGE Energy started construction of a 45MWp solar power plant, equipped with BP Solar modules, on 116 undeveloped hectares at the site of a former military airfield in Köthen, Saxony-Anhalt. When completed, the developers say that project will be the largest solar power plant in the German state and the world´s largest to be outfitted with string inverters.
PV shipments which include solar modules and inverters in IMS Research’s latest assessment of the PV industry have rebounded strongly in the second quarter of 2009, with over 1GW of PV shipments. However, for the first six months of 2009, shipments were down 34% compared to the same period last year. The collapse of the Spanish market was at the root of the decline, the market research firm said.
Preparation for the construction of one of the largest solar plants in Greece is underway as Scheuten Solar announced it has signed up for a 1MWp project between Tripoli and Megalopolis in the south of the country. Scheuten will supply its Multisol modules for the Ilioependytiki S.A.-owned plant, which will then be installed by Data Energy.
