In another example of American states taking the solar bull by the horns, Pennsylvania will invest more than $10 million in 12 new projects, following the Commonwealth Financing Authority's approval. The awards are distributed mostly to planned photovoltaic installations, with a total capacity of >9.1MW, and include brownfield sites, rooftop systems, and commercial deployments.
NV Energy has been given approval for three separate and long-term purchase power agreements for renewable energy. Given by the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada, the approved agreements will last for the next 25 years.
With the second large module order announcement in a week, Kyocera has announced that it will ship approximately 190,000 solar modules for two large-scale solar plants in Dulcinea in Cuenca and Don Quijote in Ciudad Real – both in the Castile-La Mancha region of central Spain. The plants cover an area of 338,581m2 and have an output of approximately 39.3MW.
Rudolph Technologies announced Wednesday that Tony Mullins will take up the role of director of global process control software sales immediately. Mayson Brooks, Rudolph's vice president of global sales, believes that Mullins' experience will help him in the new position. "Tony brings a wealth of process control know-how to Rudolph," said Brooks.
Trina Solar has announced the inauguration of the largest rooftop solar system in Europe with a capacity of 40MW, installed on the rooftops of a global logistics service provider with headquarters in Antwerp, Belgium.
Already having announced solar projects of over 70MW using c-Si PV modules from LDK Solar across Europe, the integrated PV manufacturer has signed its biggest single European deal to date with Global Power Resources for the construction of 100MW of PV plants in 2010. LDK Solar has already announced a project pipeline in China of over 2GW, being rolled out over several years. LDK Solar will be providing engineering, procurement, construction services and supply the solar modules, while GPR will acquire the final ownership of the PV plants.
In a significant move by EDF Energies Nouvelles to boost its solar energy portfolio, the renewable energy producer has secured new project finance that is underpinned by a €500 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB). EIB is financing 50% of planned projects in both France and Italy through 2012, while commercial banks will support each project with the other 50% of project finance required. EDF is exclusively using First Solar’s CdTe thin film modules for the €1 billion of projects over the next 2-years.
eSolar has named John Van Scoter as CEO. Van Scoter comes to the company with 25 years of experience in developing and implementing global market strategies for up-and-coming technologies.Scoter will work on eSolar's Board of Directors immediately and will assume his position as CEO on February 1, 2010.
Advanced Energy Industries' Solaron PV inverters have been commissioned for Colorado State University's (CSU) 2MW solar power plant at its Foothills Campus. The Solaron products were selected for their high efficiency rating.
The Los Angeles Times has reported that plans for a 970-acre solar PV farm near the Salton Sea in southeastern California have been shelved because of cost concerns. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power made the move at the same time that City Council members indicated they were not going to back the project. The 55MW (AC) Niland project, announced in August, was to have been designed, engineered, and built by First Solar and equipped with the thin-film PV company's CdTe modules.
