Work will begin next year on the first phase of the 500MW Desertec concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in Morocco, according to German newspaper Süddeutschen Zeitung. The initial development stage will cost around €600 million and add 150MW of capacity to the yet-to-be-named site.
Astronergy, a unit of Chint Group, advised that Munich RE had selected its thin-film amorphous microcrystalline silicon PV panels for a 1.65MW solar project in Thailand. The plant was commissioned on October 28 with Astronergy noting that various Chint subsidiary components were being used for including inverters and BOS system elements.
Nearly 200,000 of Q-Cells' CIGS thin-film solar modules are being used in GP Joule’s 20.8MW Solarpark Ammerland, which is said to be the largest deployment of CIGS panels yet. The project, which celebrated its grand opening today, was constructed in just over eight weeks and was developed by Martin Bucher with Module24 selecting Q-Cells to provide its modules for the plant. Q-Cells noted that in addition to supplying its solar module technology, it also gave technical support during the project’s installation.
Solon will be building a 10MW solar PV plant near Kingman, Arizona for UniSource Energy Services (UES), which, under a 20-year PPA, will allow the utility to provide renewable power to its customers without the upfront cost of the system installation. The 10MW array will accompany the 1.22MW UES-owned solar array that Solon developed near Kingman’s La Senita Elementary School.
In August it was reported that project executive Activ Solar had completed the first two stages of its solar project in Okhotnykovo, Ukraine. Now with the final phase of construction realized, this Austrian PV company has accomplished its goal to have the largest solar plant in central and eastern Europe.
Martifer Solar has installed a 4.5kWp off-grid system in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, with enhanced Martifer PV modules, SMA inverters and Sonnenschein batteries
SunPower and California’s San Ramon Valley Unified School District celebrated the 3.3MW of solar projects installed across five school sites for the San Ramon school district. It is estimated that the five projects will produce over two-thirds of school’s energy needs over the system’s lifetime. California High School, Dougherty Valley High School, Monte Vista High School, San Ramon Valley High School and Diablo Vista Middle School all saw the solar installations completed earlier this month.
Campbell Soup Company is leasing 14 acres of its facility in Sacramento, US, to American Capital Energy (ACE). A Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and Land Lease Agreement (LLA) will allow ACE to construct a 2.3MW capacity PV solar power generation ground mount tracker system on the grounds. ACE will own the system and be responsible for its construction, operation and maintenance.
Contractor Würth Solar commissioned the Farsala solar power plant on December 2010. Since January 4, 2011, this open space system, built as a turn-key facility, has been supplying electricity to the Greek grid. It has now achieved its full load capacity of 5MW. The electricity output of the Farsala plant covers the annual energy requirements of more than 1,600 Greek households. Whilst, at the same time, about 3,700 tons of CO2 emissions are saved per year.
