JA Solar Holdings revealed that it has signed a supply agreement with China Power Investment’s subsidiary, Huanghe Hydropower Development, for the delivery of nearly 21MW of solar products by September. The PV modules will be used for a solar project being developed in Qinghai, China.
US-based project developer SPI Solar said it has been awarded two new contracts worth 14.1MW. The first project is a 4.4MW fixed-ground-mount solar power plant located in Evros, a northeastern region of Greece, while the second project is for a 9.7MW fixed-ground-mount solar power plant for a subsidiary of an international pharmaceutical company’s operations at its New Jersey corporate headquarters. Both projects will use LDK Solar’s PV modules.
A 7MW PV power plant has gone on stream in Ukishima, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, built and operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). The PV plant, built on land owned by Kawasaki City is expected to generate about 7,400MWh per year, or equal to annual total energy consumption of 2,100 households from 38,000 modules. TEPCO said it would operate the plant for 18 years.
US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has greenlighted the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm, a 550MW (AC) solar power project to be developed, built, and operated by First Solar on 4100 acres of public lands in the California desert outside Joshua Tree National Park. Construction on the site could begin within days.
LDK Solar and Datang International Power Generation are planning to build a 20MW solar power plant in Qinghai, China. Work on the first 10MW installation phase will begin later this month, with the entire project scheduled to be completed by the end of September. LDK will carry out engineering, procurement and construction on the site.
Enel Green Power commissioned three new solar power plants in Italy, the largest of which is the 9MW Adrano plant in the Catania, Sicily province. The project sits on the same site that the company installed the first concentrated solar power plant in 1981. Installation was additionally completed on a 4.8MW plant in San Gillio and a 500kW plant in Sesto Campano. Together the three plants hold an installed capacity of 14.3MW and will generate 21,000,000kWh of electricity per year.
Activ Solar has completed the first two phases of its record-breaking 80MW PV project in Ukraine. When all four stages are completed, the power station, located on 160 acres of land in Ohotnikovo, will be the fourth largest development in the world.
Commercial operation has begun at California’s largest solar power project after NRG Solar and Eurus Energy America activated their 45MW Avenal Solar Generating Facility in Kings County. The facility was developed by Eurus and the electricity produced will be sold to Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) under separate 20-year power purchase agreements.
The continued construction and eventual interconnection of what will be the world’s largest solar PV power plant now seems assured. The US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office has finalized a $967 million loan guarantee for the 290MW (AC) Agua Caliente solar project in Arizona, thus triggering the purchase close of the project by NRG Energy from First Solar. The plant could start generating electricity for PG&E as early as the end of this year.
