Americas

Pictometry Online is extending its 3-D like, high resolution aerial images to solar contractors, which the company states will allow for a better and more accurate calculation of solar exposure, panel placement, sizing, roof pitch and square footage for a solar installation on either a residential or commercial building.

Tucson Electric Power has chosen SunPower's rooftop solar technology to equip its new Bright Roofs programme. The T5 Roof Tile will power systems, totalling 11MW, which are being installed on leased school and public-building rooftop space in Tucson over the next three years.

In 2008, Hawaiian Electric sent out renewable energy project proposal requests for Oahu, Hawaii under the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) competitive bidding framework. As a result of that request, SunPower and Hawaiian Electric have agreed to a 20-year PPA with energy being produced from a 5MW solar farm at Kalaeloa in West Oahu. SunPower will design, build and operate the plant using its solar panels and SunPower Tracker system.

Sempra Generation has officially opened its 48MW Copper Mountain Solar project in Boulder City, Nevada. The company also announced its recently-approved plans to expand the plant by 200MW.

Hanwha Holdings (USA) has established Hanwha Solar America LLC as a U.S. subsidiary, which will set up an advanced photovoltaic technology research and development center in Silicon Valley. Industry veteran Chris Eberspacher has been named president of HSA and will also serve as global CTO of Hanwha’s various solar businesses.

SunPower and Xcel Energy have completed and commissioned the 19MW Greater Sandhill solar power plant in Colorado’s Alamosa County. Utilizing SunPower’s Tracker system, the PV power plant began to produce electricity at the end of December 2010.

First Solar has selected the location of its second manufacturing center in the United States, and it’s a short drive from the company’s Tempe, AZ, headquarters. A 135-acre site in Mesa that once hosted a General Motors vehicle testing facility will see the creation of a cadmium-telluride thin-film PV module factory, a $300 million capital investment which will feature four production lines and be suitable for future expansion.

Logistics giant DHL has joined forces with Lumeta and Daniel’s Electric to fit a new 88kW building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) system on a Californian high school. The 220 Lumeta PowerPly modules were installed over three days on the 35,000-square-foot roof of a recently-built classroom at Banning High School.

Lodi Unified School District and Cupertino Electric’s alternative energy division have begun building a 2MW PV system in Lodi, California. Cupertino Electric has designed the system, which is comprised of four smaller systems mounted on car park canopies across the district.

Natcore Technology has set up shop at MicroTech Systems Fremont, California facility in order to begin work on its first production model of its intelligent liquid phase deposition (LPD) processing station that intends to grow antireflective (AR) coating on silicon wafers. The LPD process grows the AR coating in a warm chemical bath, which is said to eliminate the need for silane, diminish energy needs and lower silicon use.