Commercial operation has begun at Western Wind Energy’s Kingman I wind and solar project in Mohave County, Arizona. The 10.5MW system is the first purpose-built joint wind and solar project in North America and the electricity generated will be sold to Unisource Electric Services.
A new report from Greenpeace has claimed that a switch to renewable energy sources would allow Japan to permanently close its entire nuclear portfolio by 2012 without jeopardizing economic growth. Findings from the "Advanced Energy [R]evolution Report for Japan" have put a further nail in the coffin of an industry still reeling from the fallout of March’s Fukushima nuclear plant disaster.
OPEL Solar has advised of its recent agreement with Energi Insurance Services, which will see the solar company buy Energi’s Manufacturer’s Product Warranty (MPW) Insurance for its TF-800 solar tracking systems. The additional insurance will supplement the company’s five-year limited, or optional 10-year extension, warranty, for material and equipment.
Southern California Edison (SCE) will install the largest single-building solar rooftop system in the US at an industrial property in Perris, California. Dexus Property Group has signed a 20-year lease with SCE for the 513,588m2 rooftop space, which will soon be home to 36,000 solar panels. The record-breaking system, which will have a peak capacity of 10MW, is part of a network of solar plants SCE is building throughout southern and central California.
The Renewable Energy Corporation has terminated a long-term wafer sales contract with an unnamed customer. The Norweigan PV giant will receive USD$40 million in compensation, which will be paid out in Q3.
Berlin-based White Owl Capital had acquired 5 PV power plants built by Gehrlicher Solar Italia, a subsidiary of Gehrlicher Solar for an undisclosed sum. Using First Solar CdTe thin film modules and SMA inverters, all the plants were grid connected before feed-in tariffs were reduced at the end of August, 2011. The projects, with a total power of 10.4MWp, are situated in the regions of Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy.
First Solar has completed two PV power plants in Ontario, Canada for Enbridge. The smaller, 5MW Tilbury Solar Project uses 82,500 CdTe modules, while the Amherstburg II Project, split over two sites of 10MW and 5MW, employs 244,000 of the same First Solar modules. Combined costs of the projects were said to been approximately CAD$90 million.
California-based EPC and project developer, Premier Power expects 2011 revenue of between US$100.0 million and US$120.0 million, up from US$87 million in 2010. Growth was attributed to growth in the EU and US. Premier Power noted that it had a project pipeline of over 100MWp in Bulgaria and a deal with Teichert to build large scale utility solar power plants in the US put at 300MW.
Solar financier Main Street Power revealed that it had selected AlsoEnergy’s software platform for a nearly 3MW distributed generation solar project in California. AlsoEnergy’s technology will support the energy monitoring and user interface requirements for the multi-site project.
Solar module encapsulant materials specialist, Solutia has guided lower revenue for the third quarter on the back of weaker than expected demand across its served markets including PV module manufacturing. Despite fallen module prices, PV installations have not rebounded to the degree envisioned and overcapacity remains an issue, reducing material demand.
