Benjamin Moore and Constellation Energy are on the verge of completing a new solar power system that is expected to generate 68% of the electricity required to power Benjamin Moore's 80,000 square foot research and development facility in Flanders, New Jersey. The 1.7MW plant, which comprises of 8,600 crystalline PV solar panels and can generate 2,230,000kW hours of electricity per annum, is expected to be operational by the end of the year and will reduce the company's greenhouse gas emissions by 1,600 metric tonnes.
Just over a year ago, the Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECo) got approval from the Department of Public Utilities to build 6MW of solar facilities in the New England region over the next two years and the first of its projects has come to a successful completion at the William Stanley Business Park in Pittsfield. The 1.8MW solar installation is the first in the 6MW solar program and is situated on eight acres of land owned by WMECo and the Pittsfield Economic Development using around 6,500 solar panels.
Due to a partnership with Enfinity and rail operator Infrabel, a two mile stretch of the high-speed rail tunnel on the E19 Highway in Belgium will have a rooftop solar power installation. The project will produce energy for the trains and stations on the rail line that serves both conventional and high-speed trains between Amsterdam and Paris via Brussels. The US$20.1 million project will generate 3.3MWh of electricity per year.
SunEdison has signed agreements with Huntington Beach for the installation of over 2MW of solar capacity at three Huntington Beach city properties. Work will begin on the three systems, which will be situated on carport canopies at the Huntington Beach Civic Center, Central Library and City Yard, in 2011. Once completed, the systems are expected to produce more than 63 million kWh of solar energy over 20 years.
The Silver State North Solar Project, the first large-scale solar energy project on U.S. public lands in Nevada, has received Department of the Interior (DOI) approval from Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar. Joining the project is Ecology and Environment (E & E), which prepared the environmental impact statement (EIS) for the 50MW (AC), 60MW (DC) facility, set for construction in the Ivanpah Valley, just south of Las Vegas.
The first wave of solar park announcements in the UK is in full swing. Many planned projects are designed to take advantage of the highest irradiance levels in the country, which are found in Cornwall. However, one of the pioneering sites, which is backed by a core team of experienced PV project developers and Q-Cells cofounder and former CEO Anton Milner, is planning a 5MW crystalline-based plant in Bourn, Cambridge.
Although the official ceremony to celebrate the installation of the 1.1MW solar energy system installed by Perpetual Energy Systems at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) won’t take place until the end of October, both organizations are celebrating not only the systems completion, but Caltech’s solar milestone. With this installation, Caltech has reached its goal to install 1.3MW of solar power by 2010 and will benefit from 1,646,668kWh of renewable energy in one year from the new system alone.
Constellation Energy will be developing a 5.2MW DC solar PV system with Johnson Matthey and Preferred Unlimited on the Johnson Matthey facility in West Deptford, New Jersey. Constellation Energy will not only own the system, but also be responsible for its financing, operation and maintenance. In turn, Johnson Matthew will be able to purchase the electricity produced on the site under a 20-year PPA.
Despite the Japanese Government’s concerns over the legality of Ontario’s ‘local content’ feed-in tariff requirements, Sharp’s tandem-junction thin-film modules will be used by SunEdison for two solar parks, totalling 18.5MW, in Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada. The projects (SunE Sky Norfolk I and II) are a joint venture between SkyPower and the MEMC subsidiary, which actually started construction in March this year and is expected to be completed before year-end.
