SunWize Systems has completed the first stage of its 4.45MW car park solar array. The system, situated on top of a Veteran’s Affairs (VA) medical center in Phoenix, Arizona, is one of the largest of its kind in the U.S. and is expected to be completed in July 2012.
Belectric and Sun & Life are staking their claim in what they call the largest solar power plant in Saudi Arabia. The two companies are partnering on a 10MW PV carport system at Dhahran’s North Park offices of Saudi Aramco. The large-scale power plant will cover all of the 4,500 parking spaces and feed into the public grid by the end of this year.
Spain’s Ministry for Industry has approved 923 new solar projects for Q1 2011, all of which will benefit from the current feed-in tariff rates. The 116MW of new installations have been endorsed just in time to avoid the government’s subsidy reductions that come into play from Q2.
A 1MW concentrator photovoltaic power plant built on six acres of land formerly reserved for baby pistachio trees has been activated and is providing electricity to the Southern California Edison regional grid in Central California. The site, which features SolFocus CPV systems, is located on the Nichols Farms property in Hanford. Sol Orchard developed the project, with Bechtel Power providing the engineering, procurement, and construction expertise.
Capital Dynamics and Tangent Energy Solutions have signed a joint development agreement, which will see the two companies working together on commercial-scale solar energy projects throughout the United States. Under the agreement, Capital Dynamics will arrange the funding necessary to build, own and operate existing and future solar projects developed by Tangent.
The fallout from the Fukushima nuclear disaster looks set to continue after an official from China’s National Development and Reform Commission revealed the government was planning to cut its 2020 target for nuclear power capacity.
Ferro has opened a new photovoltaic research and development laboratory in Taipei, Taiwan. The Ferro Taiwan Technology Center, situated within the Neihu Technology Park, will help Ferro provide technical support for its Taiwanese customers and also to improve cell performance and lower manufacturing costs.
3M and tenKsolar have started a partnership for the improvement of tenKsolar’s RAIS Wave commercial solar array. The RAIS Wave system now features 3M’s Cool Mirror Film 330 reflective material, which the companies state, allows for the system to produce up to 60% more annual energy per square foot of a rooftop installation. 3M recently commissioned a grid-tied 4.5kW RAIS Wave solar array from tenKsolar for installation at 3M’s Cottage Grove facility.
New Energy Technologies has entered a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the U. S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for the advancement of New Energy’s SolarWindow technology.
TechPrecision, a manufacturer of metal components and systems for the renewable energy industry, has received new orders totalling US$2 million for its wafer production equipment. The equipment, manufactured by TechPrecision’s U.S. and Chinese subsidiaries, Ranor and Wuxi Critical Mechanical Components, is expected to be shipped before the end of Q3.
