Japan’s largest single utility-scale solar power plant, using 290,000 multicrystalline solar modules supplied by Kyocera is expected to cost in the region of US$345 million or approximately ¥27 billion when complet by autumn 2013. With project finance now in place, construction of the plant in Kagoshima City, on land owned by IHI Corporation, will start in September. The plant was initially announced in April 2012.
IKEA has been on a roll this week announcing the completion of its latest rooftop solar projects on its US stores. Following its Chicago and Atlanta installations, the company revealed that its Draper, Utah store now has a 1,015kW system spread across 180,500 square feet of rooftop space producing electricity.
Upsolar advised that it had completed the installation of its latest project, which also happens to be the company’s largest project in the US to date: a 2.2MW solar plant in Sharon, Vermont. Talmage Solar Engineering oversaw the construction of the project, which uses Tigo Energy’s Module Maximizer technology and the company’s digital monitoring services at the module level.
Just two days after IKEA’s Atlanta store officially turned on its rooftop solar array, the company announced that two of its Chicago-area stores, in Bolingbrook and Schaumburg, Illinois, now sport new rooftop PV projects. The two projects cover a total of 248,700 square feet and have a combined generating capacity of 1,989kW. Together, the two installations use 8,463 panels, which were provided by SolarWorld. SoCore Energy was responsible for the development, design and installation.
China Sunergy announced that it had recently signed a 7.8MW solar modules sales contract with the energy unit of Urban Group Australia, Urban Group Energy. The solar modules are scheduled to complete delivery by the end of August. China Sunergy noted that during Q1 2012, Australia accounted for 18% of its total shipments.
Working with solar investor Sistema Solare, SolFocus has completed a 1.25MW solar park in Italy. The project spans two sites in central Italy, one in Aveani and the other in Savini, which combined are said to form one of the largest CPV power plants in the country. The CPV plants were developed and designed by Ren It and built by EPC company Delta.
Sitting in the middle of the San Francisco Bay is one of the most iconic US prisons, Alcatraz, and while it hasn’t served as an operating prison for several decades, it does now serve as host to a 307kW PV system. Developed by the National Park Service (NPS) and the U. S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) the solar project brings clean energy to another national landmark.
A consortium of seven partners supported by €13.8 million in financing from the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme for European Research and Innovation are to build a solid state hydrogen storage plant designed to balance power supply and demand of renewable energy installed in the Puglia region of Italy, which employs around 3.5GW of solar, wind and biomass energy resources.
Eletrosul, Brazil’s energy utility, advised that it has chosen Portuguese electronics and engineer Efacec and its Brazilian unit, Efacec do Brasil, to build its 1MW solar park. The consortium won the bid for Megawatt Solar by acknowledging that it can build the project for a total of US$4 million.
The Export-Import Bank of the United States has okayed two loans, totalling US$57.3 million, which will see the exportation of US-made solar panels and ancillary services to Solar Field Energy Two and Mahindra Surya Prakash in India.
