MEMC has issued a statement of clarification in regard to its recent release that appeared to claim that its parent company, SunEdison, has plans to establish solar projects in Japan in the near future. Media reports’ assumptions that there are concrete plans for Japanese projects have been refuted by MEMC, which cites “uncertain project economics” and a lack of government incentives for the company’s ambiguity on its plans for the country.
In spite of reports at the beginning of January about Indian project developers campaigning for extensions on deadlines for commissioning solar projects, GMR Energy has announced the completion of a 25MW grid-interactive solar power project.
Having placed greater emphasis on its project business as part of its restructuring efforts, MEMC, via its subsidiary, SunEdison, is reported to be planning a major move to become a key project developer in Japan. The reports claim that the company is in discussions with provincial authorities for PV projects totalling 1GW with an investment of US$4.6 billion over a 5-year period.
Following a successful trial project in 2010, Brussels Airport has now installed 7,220 monocrystalline solar panels to its logistics building at Brucargo West. With a total capacity of 1.7MWp and an annual energy production of 1,500MWh, this output is comparable to the annual energy consumption of about 450 families. The energy produced is injected straight into the airport’s power grid and will cover about 1% of the annual consumption of the airport.
BlueChip Energy has announced that the Commission of the City of Eustis, Lake County, US, authorized the mayor to execute a commercial lease with the company for 300 acres of land to be developed into a 60MW solar farm. The property, owned by the city, was use for as a wastewater spray field and is no longer needed.
Solar industry business people are continuing to investment in the Middle East. Terra Nex, a wealth management company specializing in Middle East investment and Germany-based Middle East Best Select (MEBS) plan a US$2 billion integrated project to develop 400MW of solar technology in the oil and gas exporting country, including facilities to manufacture solar panels for Oman and for export.
India-based, thin-film PV manufacturer Moser Baer has installed a 5MW solar farm, equivalent to powering 70,000 households, covering an area of 60 acres in Tinwari, Jodhpur district, India. This is part of the US$1 billion the company has promised the Indian states of Gujarat, Orissa, West Bengal and Rajasthan, for projects worth 300MW. The farm was built under the solar subsidy scheme, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). The opening ceremony was attended by the renewable energy minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah and Ashok Gehlot, chief minister of Rajasthan.
The first major renewable energy auction in Africa, undertaken by the Energy Department of South Africa saw Gestamp Solar, photovoltaic solar division of Gestamp Renewables win the opportunity to build 2 PV projects with a total power of 30MW in Northern Cape, South Africa.
Construction has begun of the initial stage of the 2MW CPV solar plant in Mildura, Victoria. The 2MW plant will serve as a form of demonstration facility for what the developers are planning could eventually be a 100MW solar farm by 2016. As equipment supplier to the facility, Solar Systems will provide its "Dense Array" CPV technology which is said to use triple-junction solar cells to yield a 40% conversion efficiency.
SunPower and Salt River Project (SRP) recently announced that they will be developing a 1MW solar PV plant at Arizona State University’s (ASU) Polytechnic campus in Mesa, Arizona. The organizations advised that this will be the first commercial deployment of SunPower’s C7 Tracker technology. SunPower will lead the engineering and construction of the plant while additionally operating and maintaining it upon completion.
