Power Engineering reported that the city of Xigaze in Tibet has a new 30MW solar plant in operation. This is the first phase of a large-scale PV project that is being developed by Linuo Power Group. LDK Solar’s 60MW industrial solar park and Chaorisolar’s 10MW installation are still under construction.
SPI Solar recently entered a purchase agreement with the Greek Thermi-Taneo Venture Capital Fund. Thermi-Taneo will acquire three PV projects in the Evros region totalling 7.4MW from SPI. The purchase includes the permits to construct the PV plants as well as the land lease. Further, SPI will act as the EPC contractor for the 7.4MW PV projects, which are expected to complete construction in late 2012.
The Argentinean President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is expected to attend the induction of the 5MW Cañada Honda solar park in the Argentinean province of San Juan. The park, developed by Emgasud is the largest South American PV project to date, according to Photon.
Nicaragua’s Ministry of Energy and Mines has started construction on a 1.38MW project in the west of the country. The solar farm, located 12km from the city of Diriamba, will be partly funded by the Japanese, with an investment of US$12 million. According to Nicaraguan newspaper El Nuavo Diario, the PV installation will become the largest in Central America.
SunEdison has announced the connection of a 25MW solar power plant in Gujarat, India to the grid. The plant is located in a solar park. Charanka in the Patan district. The park is home to a variety of PV facilities by different developers, generating over 200MW in total. SunEdison’s plant is equipped with more than 89,000 PV modules and has been completed in only four months. As a participant in the Gujarat solar project, SunEdison has connected a total of 45MW in the Gujarat region.
Waaree Energies has connected a Greentech Power 5MW solar power plant near Kolayat in the Rajasthan region to the grid, the company has announced. The plant is equipped with Waaree crystalline PV modules, produced at the company’s manufacturing plant in Surat.
Canadian Solar and SkyPower Energy have entered a purchase agreement under which Canadian Solar will purchase a majority in 16 of SkyPower’s Ontario PV projects. Fifteen of these projects are included in Ontario’s FiT program while one is part of the Ontario renewable energy standard offer program.
Heliotrop’s HCPV1024 consortium was recently awarded €16 million by the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), which will support a total investment program of €44 million to build manufacturing facilities and install Heliotrop CPV modules.
One of the largest installations in the Southeast US has been completed using US-based Suniva modules. The 5MW solar power plant located in Haywood County, Tennessee was Designed and built by Signal Energy, and managed by the University of Tennessee Research Foundation (UTRF).
Areva Solar will be developing what is being called the largest CSP plant in Asia to date with the construction of a 250MW concentrating solar power project for Reliance Power in Rajasthan. The project is part of the country’s program to increase clean energy production by 20,000MW of solar power by 2022.