Power Plants

Last year, the Israeli Ministry of Interior approved a plan for an 8MW solar PV plant to be built adjacent to the Bedouin community of Tarabin in the Abu Basma region of the north west of the Negev Desert, which has finally been given the go ahead. This will be a joint project between the Tarabin tribe and Arava Power Company, costing approximately US$30 million. The plant will cover 15 hectares of privately owned agricultural land.

Preliminary figures from IMS Research indicate that PV inverter shipments reached a new record high in 2011. According to the market research firm, shipments grew by more than 10% and exceeded 26GW for the first time. IMS Research’s preliminary Q4’11 report, projects inverter shipments grew by up to 15% in 2011, with more than 8GW shipped in the last quarter of the year.

IDEA Polysilicon Company has selected centrotherm SiTec to provide basic engineering and the technology concepts for its first 10,000MT capacity polysilicon plant to be built in the city of Yanbu, Saudi Arabia. Actual construction timelines were not disclosed.

PV inverter shipments may have dipped slightly in 2011, according to IHS PV Inverter Market Tracker report, yet shipments are expected to more than double to 52GW in 2015. Shipments of PV inverters fell to the equivalent of 23.4GW in 2011, down 1% from 23.6GW in 2010, according to the market research firm.

SunPower has become entangled in a lawsuit directed at the US Departments of the Interior, Treasury and Navy. Judicial Watch, an organization that investigates government corruption and Human Events, a weekly American conservative magazine, filed a Freedom of Information (FOIA) act to sue the Obama administration on February 1, 2012.

Europe’s second-largest oil company, British Petroleum (BP), has failed to meet a financing deadline despite today’s announcement that the company has raised dividends to shareholders by 14%. The Australian government has reopened a solar funding competition to AGL Energy, TRUenergy and Suntech Power, to construct the Moree solar farm in New South Wales.

PV module encapsulant material supplier, STR Holdings warned late last week that sales would not meet previously guided levels. The company had previously guided sales to be in the range of US$44-US$48 million. However STR has revised guidance to approximately US$36.5 million, well below that level.

Solar Junction advised that it had entered into a multi-megawatt supply agreement with Semprius, but did not give specifics into how many MW were to be ordered or a timeline for the deal. The companies have been working together for the past two years to deliver cell technology for Semprius’ HCPV module efficiencies.

Considering the country’s decision in 2011 to phase out nuclear power by 2022, Germany has made a smart decision to take definite steps towards incentivizing the uptake of renewable energy technologies from a fiscal point of view. The country recently reached the point where 20% of its electricity is generated from renewable sources, and in order to maintain this rise in uptake, the federal KfW bank group has increased its lending in the multimillion euro business loan sector.

PPG Industries advised that its flat glass business in Fresno will be expanding its production capability in order to better allow the manufacturing of the company’s Solarphire PV glass. The move aims to serve solar customers throughout California, the West Coast and even Asia with a faster shipping timeframe.