The latest quarterly edition of the ‘U.S. Solar Market Insight’ report, published by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research, reveals continued strong growth in PV installations in the US. Grid-connected PV installations in the first quarter of 2011 increased 66% compared to the same quarter a year ago to reach 252MW. Cumulative grid-connected PV in the US has now reached over 2.3GW, according to the report. PV module production also increased in the US, growing by 17% relative to the fourth quarter of 2010, and up from 297MW to 348MW.
Munich Reinsurance America (Munich Re) has chosen SunPower to design and build its new 2.5MW solar power system in Plainsboro, New Jersey. Construction of the carport system will begin later this year and is scheduled to finish in the second half of 2012.
Belgian rail network operator Infrabel has opened its new Paris to Amsterdam high-speed rail link tunnel, which features 16,000 solar panels on its 3.4km rooftop. The plant will produce electricity for the railway infrastructure on the Antwerp North-South junction, including signaling, lighting and heating railway stations, as well as powering the trains.
Balance of System designer and manufacturer Bentek Solar has signed a 25MW supply agreement with Borrego Solar. The contract will see Bentek Solar supply a range of disconnecting combiners, re-combiners and disconnect safety systems to be used on Borrego Solar’s commercial and utility scale projects.
Soitec and Schneider Electric have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (Masen) to develop concentrated photovoltaics (CPV) technology in the North African country.
The 37th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, Washington June 19 -24, is ready to welcome the cream of the PV crop. The final program was recently announced with presentations during the week focusing on 10 technical areas, including crystalline silicon technologies, organic PV and space technologies. Over 1,200 technical abstracts from around the world were submitted for consideration, marking a new record for IEEE PVSC.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has offered a conditional loan guarantee totalling US$1.2 billion to help build a 280MW Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plant in southern California. If confirmed, the DOE guarantee will help fund the construction and start-up of Abengoa’s Mojave Solar Project (MSP), which is to be located around 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles in San Bernardino County.
Solon and UniSource Energy Services (UES) have agreed to develop a 1.22MW solar PV system on six acres of land owned by the Kingman Unified School District (KUSD) and located behind La Senita Elementary School in Arizona. The companies state that this will be the largest single physical PV system on school property in the state with UES owning and operating the system while Solon takes the lead on the engineering, procurement and construction services.
Former managing board member Scott Landstrom has been selected by the Direct Grid Technologies board as the company’s new CEO. Guy Ward, the previous Direct Grid CEO, will take on the role of executive chairman. A 25-year veteran of senior executive leadership, Landstrom previously worked at Lam Research as the VP of global field operations with prior executive experience coming from his time as president of Volex.
Kyocera Solar’s new MyGen US-made solar kits are now available for residential and light-commercial solar energy installations being developed by new and veteran solar professionals alike. The domestically produced pre-engineered kits include modules, inverters, racking, monitoring, grounding, manual, drawings and all the marginal components needed to complete a solar installation.
