Camp Perry Ohio National Guard Base in Port Clinton, Ohio is home to 2,750 of Nanosolar’s utility panels, which are helping to power the recently completed 538kW solar installation. Ramanoff Electric managed the engineering, procurement and construction of the project.
According to a new study by IMS Research, PV component profits are expected to fall by 70% year-on-year in Q4 2011. Furthermore, an examination of the polysilicon, wafer, cell, module and inverter industries led the research organization to conclude that the continuation of dropping prices in 2011 will cause gross margins for the whole PV industry to drop 17% to 12.4% in Q4.
Centrosolar will present a new, flat roof mounting system for PV modules at Solar Power UK 2011. The Ceniq system enables PV systems to be installed on flat foil roofs at an angle of up to three degrees, without damaging the roof cladding in the process.
Only a few weeks before releasing third-quarter 2011 financial results on October 27, 2011, inverter supplier, Power-One has reduced guidance for the quarter. Power-One expects revenue to be in the range of US$240-US$245 million, down from previous guidance of US$265 million-US$280 million. The company cited weaker than expected demand for lower revenue expectation. Sales in the second-quarter were US$180 million.
Task force leader, Christian Prischmann, from UIbrich, a specialist metals provider to the PV industry, was the recipient of the Standards Leadership award. The European Semi award went to Dr. Tibor Pavelka, CEO of Semilab Co. Ltd. who is a producer of metrology equipment for the characterization of semiconductor and PV materials.
First Solar and Solar Chile, a subsidiary of Fundación Chile, have agreed to a strategic alliance that will see the companies work together to co-develop solar projects in Chile. First Solar has agreed to provide its PV modules, engineering and procurement services for the projects, which are subject to the execution of definitive project agreements.
Inventory writedowns and a weaker-than-expected recovery in demand for PV installations, specifically in Germany, are behind revised financial guidance by Phoenix Solar. The project developer warned of significant losses for the fiscal year 2011 and said it would be looking at its current business model in an effort to make changes and reduce costs to return to profitability in 2012.
UK based Foresight Group has signed a joint venture agreement with Quercus Renewable Energy Fund, a division of the Luxembourg-based Quercus Asset Selection, for the expansion of its investments in the Italian solar PV market. Quercus bought a 50% stake in Foresight’s Luxembourg holding Foresight Lux Co 2, which controls 40% of ForVEI, a company that was established by investors with help from Foresight, who were looking to buy interests in Italian PV plants.
SunEdison and KGAL recently finalized an agreement that sees KGAL buying 33MW of solar PV systems from SunEdison, which are located in Italy and Spain. Financial and specific project details were not released, but the recent acquisition comes after KGAL completed a 20MW purchase from SunEdison in Q2 2011.
Array Technologies has shipped its first solar tracking system for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s (SMUD) 50MW PV installation in south Sacramento County, California. The utility-scale project is being developed by Recurrent Energy with Swinerton Renewable Energy acting as the EPC for the installation.
