Solon and UniSource Energy Services (UES) have agreed to develop a 1.22MW solar PV system on six acres of land owned by the Kingman Unified School District (KUSD) and located behind La Senita Elementary School in Arizona. The companies state that this will be the largest single physical PV system on school property in the state with UES owning and operating the system while Solon takes the lead on the engineering, procurement and construction services.
Kyocera Solar’s new MyGen US-made solar kits are now available for residential and light-commercial solar energy installations being developed by new and veteran solar professionals alike. The domestically produced pre-engineered kits include modules, inverters, racking, monitoring, grounding, manual, drawings and all the marginal components needed to complete a solar installation.
In reporting first quarter financial results, metals specialist Timminco, noted that it had rebranded its solar grade silicon operations as ‘Timminco Solar’ and was executing a strategic marketing effort to communicate to PV manufacturers its ‘value proposition’ for the product. Timminco management said that the firm had shipped 135MT of solar grade silicon from inventory in the first four months of the year with 63MT alone shipped in April, 2011.
Canadian Solar has become an official sponsor of the New York Yankees, enhancing the baseball team’s environmental commitments while increasing the photovoltaic product manufacturer’s presence in the US.
The US Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado “switched-on” its new 6MW solar PV power system built by Colorado Springs Utilities and SunPower. Funded in part by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the plant uses SunPower solar panels and the company’s T0 Tracker system.
SPI Solar and LDK Solar, its majority shareholder, have signed an agreement to become the primary engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and operations and maintenance (O&M) service provider for KDC Solar’s project pipeline in New Jersey and New York. The three-year contract will see the two firms collaborate on a number of projects, which could be as little as 150MW or as much as 300MW.
Belectric and Smart Energy Capital said that they have created a joint venture to develop and finance utility-grade photovoltaic power plants. The partnership will focus on multimegawatt sites in the United States, and will develop projects on a greenfield basis as well as through acquisitions from qualified developers.
Five buildings at US Navy base Pearl Harbor, known now as the Joint base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, in Oahu, Hawaii are in the midst of a US$15 million project, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Intended to increase the base’s energy independence by using renewable energy, a combined 2.4MW solar array has been installed using SolarWorld panels, which include its crystalline silicon technology, and is spread across five buildings at the historic base.
Syncarpha Capital has chosen Siemens Energy to provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for its new 3MW solar plant in Eastampton, New Jersey. Construction work on the ground-based system is set to begin shortly and grid connection is pencilled in for September.
Solar Power Partners and JCM Capital have signed a deal with Rumble Energy, to provide full development, construction, and long-term equity financing for a 6MW portfolio of commercial-scale rooftop installations located throughout Ontario. The agreement follows the SPP-JCM announcement in December 2010 on the launch of their Solar Fund to develop, finance, own, and operate 200MW of solar projects in Ontario.
