The 78MW portion of a 148MW PV plant in Berlin was officially opened by the Prime Minister of Brandenburg. Developed by EPC contractor Saferay, the Senftenberg plants are located on a former open-pit mining area in Eastern Germany. The plant, which is part of what is being called the largest PV power plant complex in the world, was completed in three months and uses 330,000 crystalline solar modules and 62 central inverter stations.
EPC company Enerparc recently completed a new large-scale solar power plant in Gahro, Germany utilizing 27.5MW of ReneSola’s standard Multi and Virtus high-efficiency modules. ReneSola shipped 16.23MW of its 230W, 235W and 240W Multi modules in June and followed the shipment with an 11.23MW delivery of its 235W, 240W and 245W Virtus modules in August.
Constellation Energy has started to construct a 16.1MW solar installation in Emmitsburg, Maryland as part of the state’s Generating Clean Horizon’s initiative. The US$60 million facility will be financed, owned and operated by Constellation Energy with Maryland’s Department of General Services and the University System of Maryland purchasing the produced electricity under a 20-year PPA.
Billed as the largest airport project worldwide, Suntech modules have been used on an 8.05MW Athens International Airport PV project, which is designed to provide approximately 20% of the airport authority electricity needs and 9% of airport community needs. The project was built by Biosar using approximately 28,750 of Suntech’s STP 280-24/Vd modules.
As the Sept. 30 deadline for closing loan guarantees approaches, the US Department of Energy has finalized another one, this time for $337 million for the 150MW (AC) Mesquite Solar 1 power plant in Arizona. The project is owned by Sempra Energy, which has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement to sell the electricity generated to Pacific Gas & Electric.
Premier Power will be adding to its installed capacity portfolio with a recent deal that will see the company build four PV power plants, which will total 16.2MW, in Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria. The projects stem from a joint venture with European EPC firm Plaan Czech and will see Premier Power construct plants ranging in size from 3MW to 5MW. Although the value of the deal was not disclosed, the company advised that the installations are funded through a private investment company based in the Czech Republic.
Solon revealed that its 12.3MW distributed solar project in Italy has been successfully completed with installations having been developed on 18 buildings and 7 carparks for Interporto di Padova. The €50 million project is said to be the largest of its kind in Italy and received financial support from several institutions including, BIIS and Banca Popolare di Verona.
Continuing to build its project pipeline, First Solar has been awarded the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for a 130MW solar park to be built in Imperial County, California. Tenaska Solar Ventures, the solar energy affiliate of independent utility company Tenaska, will operate the park and has a 25-year power-purchase agreement (PPA) with San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), which was announced in March 2011.
In a bid to generate 5% of the emirate’s electricity needs from renewable sources by 2030, Dubai authorities were cited by a Reuters India report as being on the verge of announcing details of a large solar power plant in the region. Saeed Mohammed al-Tayer, vice chairman of Dubai's Supreme Council of Energy, has said that although the 5% target will comprise several forms of renewable energy sources, “[t]his is mainly going to be solar”.
According to news reports, US-based solar installation firm, SolarCity will not be able to complete and comply with documentation deadlines of September 30 to be considered for a US Department of Energy loan guarantee, previously announced.
