The US Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado “switched-on” its new 6MW solar PV power system built by Colorado Springs Utilities and SunPower. Funded in part by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the plant uses SunPower solar panels and the company’s T0 Tracker system.
SPI Solar and LDK Solar, its majority shareholder, have signed an agreement to become the primary engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and operations and maintenance (O&M) service provider for KDC Solar’s project pipeline in New Jersey and New York. The three-year contract will see the two firms collaborate on a number of projects, which could be as little as 150MW or as much as 300MW.
The Tata Steel and Dyesol development partnership has produced the world’s largest dye-sensitized photovoltaic module. Manufactured at Tata Steel’s Shotton site in North Wales, the module is over three metres in length and approximately one square metre in area. This unique achievement represents an important step towards the development of large-scale microgeneration capability within building infrastructure.
According to the United News of Bangladesh, top executives at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have agreed to help finance a 500MW solar system, which will be built at locations throughout Bangladesh. The plan has officials proposing the 500MW solar system include solar irrigation pumps, solar rooftop installations in urban areas and mini solar grid plants in rural areas.
TE Connectivity revealed its first thin-film solar module product at Intersolar Europe in the form of its Solarlok automated junction box. The 2-rail junction box is suited for automated mass production, which the company said would contribute to lower costs and shorter assembly times for module manufactures. TE Connectivity advised that it recognized that not all manufacturers are capable of a fully automated production and highlighted the Solarlok’s ability to be assembled manually as well.
Bosch Solar Energy has begun construction of what will be one of the largest solar projects in the UK. Located in Trefullock, southern England, the 5MW park is expected to be connected to the grid this July.
SolarEdge Technologies and SolConTec International have signed a business partnership for the distribution, system design and installation of SolarEdge performance optimizers and PV inverters. SolConTec is expected to roll out the technology across Germany, Italy and Greece.
Ideematec and Solaria are collaborating to produce 40MW of their new STS-1 tracking system, which uses Solaria’s low-concentration, high-efficiency PV modules with Ideematec’s trackers. The companies will offer over 80,000 of the new ground-mounted tracking system units, which are specifically designed for large commercial and utility customers.
Enecsys has officially introduced its new SMI-D480W-60, 480W micro-inverter, which affixes to the railing system and can receive DC input from two independent solar modules. The Duo micro-inverter allows maximum power point tracking from both modules and is said to diminish the inverter cost in comparison to the one micro-inverter per module model.
MetCap Energy Investments, a Turkish project developer, has revealed that it will use GE Energy’s FlexEfficiency technology at its integrated renewables combined cycle (IRCC) power plant in Karaman, Turkey. The project carries a 530MW rating and features a 50Hz 9FB gas turbine, a steam turbine, a generator, 22MW of GE wind turbines and 50MW of eSolar’s concentrated solar thermal tower technology. The natural gas, wind and solar thermal power will all be incorporated in the IRCC power plant with GE’s Mark Vie plant control system.
