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.
Konarka Technologies’ New Bedford, Massachusetts facility now features the world’s first OPV semi-transparent BIPV curtain wall, laminated onto seven of the company’s south and east facing 56”x67” windows. Utilizing its own Power Plastic technology, Konarka was able to incorporate the technology into the building structure, producing the largest OPV installation of its kind.
Adding to its range of central inverters, Power-One introduces the Aurora Ultra-1400 with an output power of up to 1.4MW. This liquid-cooled inverter, which displays power conversion efficiencies of up to 98.7%, is the largest product in the Power-One range and has been designed for large commercial and utility-grade installations.
Cylindrical PV system manufacturer Solyndra is set to introduce its 200 Series Metal Roof Solution at Intersolar Europe. The non-penetrating adjustable mounting system is designed to meet the additional solar installation challenges posed by metal roofs, which currently make up a significant portion of the large, low-sloped, commercial, industrial and agricultural rooftop markets.
As part of its updated second-quarter and fiscal year 2011 financial outlook, SunPower boosted its expected quarterly revenues to between $550 million and $600 million, while annual sales are forecast to end up in the $2.8 billion-$2.95 billion range. Because of the new Italian policy environment, the company said it will be reallocating 85MW of product from its utility group in Italy to residential and commercial customers in Europe and elsewhere.
LDK Solar released its unaudited financial results for its first quarter, which ended March 31. While the company did see its gross margin increase both year-over-year and sequentially, revenue and sales were lower in comparison to its fourth quarter 2010 results. Q1 2011 revenue reached US$766.3 million, a 16.8% sequential drop from Q4 2010’s US$920.9 million. However, in a year-to-year comparison, sales grew 120.5% from US$347.6 million in Q1 2010.
Belectric and Smart Energy Capital said that they have created a joint venture to develop and finance utility-grade photovoltaic power plants. The partnership will focus on multimegawatt sites in the United States, and will develop projects on a greenfield basis as well as through acquisitions from qualified developers.
Borrego Solar Systems revealed that its solar consulting and development services division has reached a milestone by advising on over 180MW of utility-scale solar project for independent power producers (IPP) and private landowners. The unit was created so that customers would be able to receive an analysis of a solar project’s viability, thereby helping IPPs and landowners possibly avoid a process that, over time, can cost millions of dollars while a customer looks into installing a utility-scale solar project.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK has partnered with British Gas for a 4.6MW installation in Derbyshire, England. Costing a total of £10 million, the ground-mounted system will feature 17,000 Sharp 245W monocrystalline panels covering an area of 90,000m2 at Toyota’s UK-based vehicle plant.
PvXchange has named Michael Mueller as CEO and Olaf Emmerich as CMO after the recent investment round from WHEB Partners. Mueller will oversee the company’s new international unit, pvXchange, in Zug, Switzerland. The company intends to continue recruiting and expanding its international reach while further developing its trading technology.
