Following its two requests for tenders (RFTs), the French government has selected bids for 541MW of solar plants, using various technologies, including, five projects from Element Power Solar, which total 18MW. Element Power’s projects include the 2.06MW Tournus installation, the 9.51MW site in Orain, Besset’s 2.16MW project, the 2.66MW installation in Soucia and Sydom’s 1.36MW installation.
EDA, the utility responsible for the production, distribution and commercialization of electricity in the nine Azorean islands, and Younicos have teamed up to develop what has been labelled as the world’s first MW-scale renewable energy system based on up to 100% solar and wind power. The system will be installed on Graciosa, an Azorean island.
All assets of GSF Capital and its senior manager, Javier Romero have been frozen by an Italian court over claims that Suntech and its chairman and CEO, Dr. Zhengrong Shi were victims of fraud. The court also appointed a manager to take control of the Fund, though Suntech did not provide further insight into how the affair happened.
After entering discussions concerning two PPAs, Corporación Dominicana de Empresas Eléctricas Estatales (CDEEE) has signed on the dotted line enabling the state-owned utility to purchase output from two 58MW PV projects in the Dominican Republic.
The government of the state of Gujarat in India has confirmed it is exploring the possibility of setting up a 1,000MW solar power project in conjunction with the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Gujarat estimates that the project could cost around Rs 8 to 9 crore per MW, therefore, the 1,000MW project could cost anywhere between Rs 8,000 to 9,000 crore.
The US residential solar lease market remains highly competitive with a new deal struck by SunPower to access US$325 million in new finance from 2-major investment banks, Citi and Credit Suisse. The new financing comes soon after major competitors in the third party leasing market, SunCity and Sunrun received significant new funding from Credit Suisse to the tune of a combined US$300 million in late July, 2012.
Installation of the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (Ivanpah SEGS) worth US$2.2 billion is 50% complete, according to an announcement by NRG Energy, Google, BrightSource Energy and construction partner Bechtel.
Conergy has successfully completed the installation of its 1.8MW solar project at Aqua Pennsylvania’s Pickering water treatment facility. The Aqua Pickering Solar Farm produces 2.3kWh of peak-time energy per year and is expected to generate nearly 50,0000MWh of solar electricity over its lifetime.
Major restructuring efforts at First Solar took a backseat during the company’s second quarter conference call as management focused on a significant increase in its PV project pipeline. First Solar said it had added almost 1GW of new projects to a pipeline that previously stood at 2.9GW. Net sales were US$957 million, up from US$497 million last quarter while revenue guidance was raised for 2012 to US$3.6-US$3.9 billion, up from a range of US$3.5 billion to US$3.8 billion.
German logistics company Deutsche Bahn’s PV plant located in Wittenberge, Germany, has officially commenced operation. The plant was developed in partnership with India-based Moser Baer Clean Energy and has a total capacity of 3.92MWp.
