Ideal Power Converters (IPC) advised that its 30kW PV inverter, IPV-30kW-480 had been confirmed by Intertek as conforming to UL standard 1741 and is now included on the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) list of approved PC inverter products. As part of the CEC list, IPC’s inverter can be installed in California and across the US.
Late last week, Vermont’s Governor Shumlin signed the 2012 Energy Bill into law, which among other benefits saw the state’s CLEAN Program expand from 50MW to 127.5MW. The bill outlines that the capacity of any distributed generation facility that provides “sufficient benefits to the operation and management of the electric grid” because of its location or other characteristics will not count towards the overall program cap of 127.5MW. Thus, this portion of the legislation mandates that no limit exists on the amount of clean local energy produced from facilities providing locational benefits.
Kyocera has supplied 34MW of PV modules for a 127MW utility-scale PV plant in south western Arizona, the company has announced. The company will provide further modules, manufactured at its San Diego facility, for the project, producing through to 2013.
American-based company Petra Solar has announced that it will install 5MW solar energy across a number of locations in Bahrain. The company is collaborating with the National Oil and Gas Authority (NOGA), Caspian Energy Holding and the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO).
Last week, the US Department of Commerce imposed tariffs of between 31 and 250% on solar imports from China. Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) has issued a statement calling for all parties to work together on measures to eliminate trade and investment barriers to solar energy.
Despite full-capacity utilization and increased shipments of polysilicon and wafers, Daqo New Energy suffered falling revenue and continued losses in the first quarter of 2012. Based-on previously guided poly production cost reduction timelines and current spot market pricing - Daqo is fighting a loosing battle to sell polysilicon above cost levels through 2012 and 2013.
SolarEdge Technologies has announced that it has shipped an excess of 1 million of its solar power optimizing and monitoring solutions worldwide. The company ships its optimizers to over 30 different countries.
Ascent Solar has entered into a development agreement with Shenzhen Radiant Enterprise and the Third Railway Survey and Design Institute (TSDI), the company has announced. Under the agreement, the three companies aim to install Ascent solar panels into already existing as well as future railway stations in China. TSDI has been involved in designing over 50,000km of Chinese railways, as well as the design of the Beijing South railway station.
American-based Fluor Corporation has finished constructing one of LDK Solar’s polysilicon plants in China, the company has announced. Fluor provided EPC services for the plant in Xinyu City, China.
Qatar Solar Technologies and Qatar Electricity and Water have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop solar power in Qatar. QST is currently constructing a US$1.1 billion polysilicon manufacturing plant in the Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar.
