Continuing its expansion into the US, Canadian Solar has announced that it has been awarded the module supply contract for a 2.1MW solar installation at St. Peter's University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The company will supply almost 10,000 of its 6P 240P modules for the project, which will comprise two rooftop arrays, three solar canopies on parking lots and another solar canopy on the roof of a multi-floor parking structure.
China Datang is planning to use solar modules from Tianwei New Energy for the first time on a 10MW ground-mounted project project in Delhi, Qinghai Province, China. The module supply agreement requires Tianwei to ship between September and October the full 10MW of modules directly to the project.
US pharmacy Walgreens has chosen SoCore Energy to install PV systems at 90 of its stores in Ohio. This new portfolio will have a capacity of 2MW and increase the number of arrays on Walgreens stores to 136; the first 53 in this next wave of installations are due to be completed by November 11. The individual systems are being leased for 10 years to Walgreens, which will equip them with Power-One inverters and SolarWorld’s 240W crystalline silicon panels.
Cleantech finance company De Lage Landen has finalized an agreement that will see the company’s Clean Technology Group team up with Tioga Energy to provide long-term financing for an 856kW solar project in Honolulu, Hawaii. Built for Oceanic Time Warner at its Mililani Tech Park, the project is a combination rooftop and solar parking canopy and is said to be the largest of its kind in the state of Hawaii.
Commercial operation has begun at Western Wind Energy’s Kingman I wind and solar project in Mohave County, Arizona. The 10.5MW system is the first purpose-built joint wind and solar project in North America and the electricity generated will be sold to Unisource Electric Services.
Southern California Edison (SCE) will install the largest single-building solar rooftop system in the US at an industrial property in Perris, California. Dexus Property Group has signed a 20-year lease with SCE for the 513,588m2 rooftop space, which will soon be home to 36,000 solar panels. The record-breaking system, which will have a peak capacity of 10MW, is part of a network of solar plants SCE is building throughout southern and central California.
Berlin-based White Owl Capital had acquired 5 PV power plants built by Gehrlicher Solar Italia, a subsidiary of Gehrlicher Solar for an undisclosed sum. Using First Solar CdTe thin film modules and SMA inverters, all the plants were grid connected before feed-in tariffs were reduced at the end of August, 2011. The projects, with a total power of 10.4MWp, are situated in the regions of Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy.
First Solar has completed two PV power plants in Ontario, Canada for Enbridge. The smaller, 5MW Tilbury Solar Project uses 82,500 CdTe modules, while the Amherstburg II Project, split over two sites of 10MW and 5MW, employs 244,000 of the same First Solar modules. Combined costs of the projects were said to been approximately CAD$90 million.
PV systems integrator, Phoenix Solar is using First Solar’s CdTe thin film modules on a 1.7MW project in Italy for an independent power producer, while a 1MW plant near Rome will use CIGS thin film modules from MiaSolé. The project is for an unidentified Italian investor, according to Phoenix Solar.
One of Japan’s main power suppliers, Kansai Electric Power, has started commercial operation of its 10MW PV plant in Sakai City, Osaka, reports Bloomberg. The plant, which started partial operation in October 2010, is one of the largest in Japan and generates enough electricity to power around 3,000 homes.
