A new technical study that is more detailed and extensive than previously achieved, the US Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has significantly increased the potential for US building rooftops to generate electricity from solar PV (photovoltaics) systems.
Integrated China-based monocrystalline PV producer, Solargiga Energy Holdings as expected from preliminary announcements, reported only a small increase in revenue for 2015, however the company returned to a small net profit, compared to a net loss in 2014.
China-based polysilicon and wafer producer Daqo New Energy reported that external sales volume and cost structure exceeded prior guidance as demand remained strong in the fourth quarter and full year 2015.
Pension fund, The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), has agreed to purchase a 25% stake in Desert Sunlight Investment Holdings, the owner of two major solar PV projects with a combined capacity of 550MW near Palm Springs, California.
Tokyo-based egg producer ISE Group, French energy company Total and SunPower Corporation, have started construction of a 27MW solar PV plant at Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Honshu Island in Japan.
A key theme of the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue conference last week was how Germany’s Energiewende (‘energy transition’) has not only proven how to foster an explosion of renewable generation capacity through support schemes, but also how to integrate those renewables. Grid operators from Germany and Denmark discussed questions of feasibility, past, present and future.
Integrated PV manufacturer REC Solar is to invest a total of $200 million Singapore dollars (US$182.3 million) in expanding and upgrading production at its facilities in Singapore. The company also plans to invest a further US$50 million in R&D activities at the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS), with emphasis on a type of PV module.
China-based PV energy provider (PVEP) United Photovoltaics Group has received back its US$64.4 million deposit originally given to Hareon Solar to start build 930MW of PV power plants, which were never actually built.
