Italian state-operated energy agency, GSE has told Reuters that photovoltaic module installations reached 173MW for the first 8-months of the year, taking the cumulative capacity to above 630MW. The agency expects its target of 900MW cumulative capacity for 2009 to be exceeded, though did not provide a new projected figure.
The long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) between APS and Starwood Energy Group has been terminated. This ends plans for the Starwood Solar I plant, as the engineering, procurement and construction firm, Lockheed Martin, pulls out.
Trina Solar has signed a sales agreement with the Kerself Group, one of Italy's leading photovoltaic solar plant engineering, development, production, installation, and distribution companies. Under the terms of the deal, the Chinese solar manufacturer will supply Kerself with approximately 73MW of crystalline-silicon PV modules, with shipment deliveries of 23MW slated in the fourth quarter of this year, and further shipments of 25MW expected in each of the first two quarters of 2010.
Amorphous silicon thin-film start-up, NexPower Technology is to be supplied bulk nitrogen requirements for its 100MW plant by Air Products San Fu Co., under a long-term contract. Nexpower’s plant is based in the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP) in Houli, Taichung, Taiwan and will use Air Products' pipeline network in the CTSP.
The OPDE Group, which includes the companies OPDE, MECASOLAR, PROINSO and RIOS, will sign an agreement with the regional government of Piedmont (Italy) on Friday 8th October for the construction of 17 solar facilities, generating together a total of 75MW.
Odersun, German manufacturer of thin-film solar cells and modules, has appointed Uwe Hering as chief sales and marketing officer with effect from 1 October 2009. The electrical engineer brings extensive experience from the semiconductor industry in sales, business development and product marketing.
Suntech Power has completed grid connection of the first 10MW utility-scale solar power project in China, located in Shizuishan, Ningxia Autonomous Region. The project involves a 10MW ground mount solar system and is the first phase of a 50MW solar plant that is targeted to be completed by 2011 with China Energy Conservation Investment Corporation (CECIC), a Suntech partner.
Hoku Scientific and Tianwei New Energy Holdings have signed a definitive agreement that will make the vertically integrated Chinese solar company the primary shareholder of Hoku. The deal stipulates that Tianwei take a majority investment in Hoku and that debt financing by Tianwei and China Construction Bank be used to complete Hoku's Pocatello, ID, polysilicon production facility, which has faced numerous delays in its construction schedule because of financing and other issues.
A small midcap South Korea-based leather manufacturer, Uni-Chem, would appear to be the first customer under Spire's ‘Come to America’ campaign with an agreement to set up a 60MW crystalline silicon cell and a 50MW turnkey module production line in the U.S. The two companies will also partner on the solar system integration arm of Spire, with Uni-Chem purchasing a 51% stake in Spire Solar Systems. Earlier this year Spire and Gloria Solar of Taiwan disbanded their joint system integration business, which became Spire Solar Systems.
Earlier this month, the two main bodies in the Italian renewable energy world, Gruppo Imprese Fotovoltaiche Italiane (GIFI), the Italian Photovoltaic Association, and Federazione Nazionale Imprese Elettrotecniche ed Elettroniche (ANIE), proposed a new set of Feed in Tariffs (FiT) for Italy, which are planned for 2011, according to a Barclays Solar report.
