Power Plants

The first wave of solar park announcements in the UK is in full swing. Many planned projects are designed to take advantage of the highest irradiance levels in the country, which are found in Cornwall. However, one of the pioneering sites, which is backed by a core team of experienced PV project developers and Q-Cells cofounder and former CEO Anton Milner, is planning a 5MW crystalline-based plant in Bourn, Cambridge.

Although the official ceremony to celebrate the installation of the 1.1MW solar energy system installed by Perpetual Energy Systems at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) won’t take place until the end of October, both organizations are celebrating not only the systems completion, but Caltech’s solar milestone. With this installation, Caltech has reached its goal to install 1.3MW of solar power by 2010 and will benefit from 1,646,668kWh of renewable energy in one year from the new system alone.

Constellation Energy will be developing a 5.2MW DC solar PV system with Johnson Matthey and Preferred Unlimited on the Johnson Matthey facility in West Deptford, New Jersey. Constellation Energy will not only own the system, but also be responsible for its financing, operation and maintenance. In turn, Johnson Matthew will be able to purchase the electricity produced on the site under a 20-year PPA.

5N Plus Corp was given US$500,000 in funding from the State Energy Program of Wisconsin, which will go towards purchasing equipment for the facilitation of the plants solar module recycling and creation of new jobs in DeForest, Wisconsin. The 60,500 square foot facility has a US$4 million investment behind it and is expected to be operational in the next few weeks. Along with its recycling capability, it will also be manufacturing specialty compounds for thin-film PV applications.

Iosil Energy has leased a 30,700 square foot facility from Meritex in Groveport, Ohio, as the location for its pilot manufacturing of high purity polysilicon.

Rocky Mountain Supercomputer Centers (RMSC) and Northrop Grumman have come together to introduce their maximizing and optimizing renewable energy (MORE) Power initiative. The new service is a technology that uses a laser-communications network optimization model by Northrup to help select the most effect sites for renewable energy projects. The MORE initiative will take worldwide wind and solar radiation data, which is collected by Northrop, and use it as a historical foundation in order to choose a site that will be the most productive for an alternative energy project.

Another CIGS thin-film PV manufacturer has garnered certification for its flexible modules. San Jose-based SoloPower has achieved IEC 61646 and 61730 approvals to go along with the UL 1703 it announced earlier this year, allowing the company to sell its rooftop-focused products in the U.S. and Europe. SoloPower claims to be the first among its peers to obtain both IEC certifications for its flex panels.

Despite the Japanese Government’s concerns over the legality of Ontario’s ‘local content’ feed-in tariff requirements, Sharp’s tandem-junction thin-film modules will be used by SunEdison for two solar parks, totalling 18.5MW, in Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada. The projects (SunE Sky Norfolk I and II) are a joint venture between SkyPower and the MEMC subsidiary, which actually started construction in March this year and is expected to be completed before year-end.

(Updated) Integrating energy harvesting technologies into crystalline solar modules is fast becoming the latest trend, which promises lower BOS costs compared to bolt-on applications. With the number of companies entering this market mushrooming in 2010, Suntech has decided to collaborate with at least four such firms, Tigo Energy, National Semiconductor, Azuray Technologies, and Enphase Energy.

Etrion has now completed the previously announced definitive sale and purchase agreements to acquire the equity in the first two phases of the SunPower Montalto di Castro solar park, for approximately €49 million. The acquisition of the 20MW first phase of the project was completed in August and the acquisition of the 8MW second phase was completed at the very end of September.