IBC Solar’s Turkish subsidiary IBC Solar Yat Ve Tic has announced that it has completed the installation of its Konya PV plant, which it claims is the first grid-connected PV power plant in Turkey.
SunEdison, a US developer of PV projects, has submitted plans to develop two PV plants in Antofagasta in northern Chile adding a total of 72MW of solar capacity to the country, according to the Chilean news site Diario Financiero. One plant will have a capacity of 33.48MW and the other will have 38.59MW.
Following its two requests for tenders (RFTs), the French government has selected bids for 541MW of solar plants, using various technologies, including, five projects from Element Power Solar, which total 18MW. Element Power’s projects include the 2.06MW Tournus installation, the 9.51MW site in Orain, Besset’s 2.16MW project, the 2.66MW installation in Soucia and Sydom’s 1.36MW installation.
Eltek announced that Underwriters Laboratories (UL) has given the company’s THEIA HE-t grid tie solar inverters the highest ratings in its product safety certification. The UL certification qualifies them for sale in the North American market, with Eltek advising that the product line is available immediately.
Chinese inverter manufacturer GoodWe Solar Inverter has proposed plans to rebuild its logistics system in the UK, Ireland and other countries, yet to be specified, in cooperation with DSV, an international logistics company. The partnership involves logistics service, bonded warehouse and product delivery in the UK and Ireland.
Management at Applied Materials spent little time discussing the performance of its Energy and Environmental Solutions (EES) division results, which houses the majority of its solar sector equipment and services to the PV industry. The company reported EES sales in its financial third quarter that were almost flat with the previous quarter at US$77 million. However, new orders decreased significantly to only US$35 million, compared to US$62 million in the prior quarter.
Independent, bank-approved engineering firm BEW recently gave Tigo Energy a positive bankability report, which casts Tigo Energy’s PV optimizer as suitable for deployment in commercial and utility-scale bank-owned solar systems.
AU Optronics advised that it has officially launched its EU project, which aims to be the first “made-in Europe” solar integrated service alliance in the PV industry. The company’s Czech Republic solar module factory will act as its manufacturing centre and allow it to provide made-in-Europe solar modules. AUO noted that it is in talks with strategic partners and expects to start the project by the end of this year.
Aviva Investors recently completed its acquisition of nearly 7,000 solar PV systems from London-based free solar supplier HomeSun. The deal totals around 23MW and, according to the Financial Times, is said to be worth nearly £100 million.
