Americas

An administrative judge in the US state of Minnesota has ruled solar generation to be a better investment than natural gas for electric and natural gas utility, Xcel Energy.

Strongly contested campaigns by some US-based utilities to change net-energy metering (NEM) policies for mainly residential PV owners are not expected to have a meaningful negative impact on the US PV market, according to the latest findings from market research firm IHS.

International manufacturer SolarWorld has launched a fresh petition to end what it claims are anti-competitive activities by Chinese and Taiwanese PV manufacturers in the US.

Semiconductor technology group, Meyer Berger has announced an order from a European customer to provide CHF10 million (US$11 million) worth of components for a PV production line in South America.

The US department of energy is more than half way toward the final target of its cost cutting programme for solar energy.

The Solar Energy Industries Association has warned that proposals to reform energy taxation in the US could damage the country’s solar industry.

The first 41MW of a 400MW project in Texas has been completed, according to the developer, OCI Solar.

Government-owned Puerto Rican electric power company Autoridad de Energia Electrica (AEE) has made it mandatory for developers of renewable energy projects to incorporate energy storage into new installations.

The California Energy Commission has blocked the construction of Brightsource’s 500MW Palen project.

No solar projects were successful in the second national energy tender auction in Brazil.