Tigo Energy revealed that Trina Solar, Hanwha Solar and Upsolar are now offering the company’s smart panel technology, which features the Tigo Energy Maximizer for solar PV installations. The Maximizer is said to allow PV project owners to increase the systems power production by reducing the effects of shade, dust, clouds and uneven temperature on system performance.
Hong Kong-based GCL-Poly has signed a contract to help fund and build two PV plants, with a combined capacity of 84MW, in the California Central Valley. Work on both sites is scheduled to begin in the coming months and grid connection is pencilled in for early 2012.
At Solar Power International 2011 in Dallas this week, the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) announced the results of the 2011 SEPA Solar Business Achievement Awards.
This past month has seen Conergy secure orders for various solar power plants totalling more than 5MW in the USA. Conergy has provided three different states with project development services, planning, financing, engineering, procurement, construction, permitting and operations and maintenance.
At the Solar Power International Expo this October 2011, technology pioneer OutBack Power Technologies will demonstrate their off-grid power conversion components. And Ameresco Solar, a leading energy efficiency and renewable energy company has reached an agreement to provide BP Solar International’s small area module (SAM) line of solar panels that range from 5 watts to 180 watts under the Ameresco Solar brand.
SunRun, a home installation solar company, and PV Solar, an authority on California solar market data, announced that third-party-owned solar has eclipsed cash purchase as the preferred way to go solar in California. Also known as leasing or solar power service, third-party-owned solar represented approximately 59% of California's home solar market in Q3 2011 and 51% of the market year to date.
Siemens Energy has connected the 31MW Les Mées solar farm in southern France to the grid. The farm, which is owned by Eco Delta Développement (EDD) and comprised of six separate turnkey systems with 112,000 modules, is one of the largest PV installations in the country.
Enphase hasn’t cornered all of the new wave of solar modules integrated with a microinverter for the US market. PV module manufacturer, SunPower has launched its E18 & E19 AC Solar Panel series using SolarBridge’s ‘Pantheon’ microinverter. The all-black, E18/225 watt AC solar panel and the maximum-efficiency E19/240 watt AC solar panel will be available in the U.S. in early 2012. The AC panels feature SunPower's 22.4% efficient ‘Maxeon’ cell technology.
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) has been increasingly active in announcing planned PV projects as part of its utility-owned generation (UOG) program. In July this year, PG&E chose the three project developers charged with installing its 50MW Californian solar portfolio, which included; Recurrent Energy, Fotowatio Renewable Ventures and Westlands Solar Farms; that would be built in Kings County (20MW), Kern County (12MW) and Fresno County (18MW) respectively.
Cupertino Electric has been chosen by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) to design and build the 20MW Huron, California PV project. Engineering for the utility’s solar PV project has begun and construction is dually underway with the project expected to be completed and inter-connected by mid-2012.
