The North American Development Bank (NADBank) revealed that it is lending up to US$88.5 million to SunEdison for the development of a 20MW solar park in Picture Rocks, Arizona. This is the largest, and second, solar project financed by the NADBank. The solar park is expected to generate enough electricity for nearly 3,500 homes in the metropolitan area of Tucson.
Blaming weaker than expected revenue earnings on poor weather and other factors, First Solar lowered its 2011 revenue guidance and separately announced a restructuring of its core business groups with the exit of TK Kallenbach, President of the Components Business Group, at the end of the year. Restructuring will lead to a workforce reduction of approximately 100 associates, around 1.5% of its workforce, according to the company. First Solar revised 2011 guidance in the range of US$2.8 to US$2.9 billion, down from a prior guidance range of between US$3.0 and US$3.3 billion.
This month will see the completion of ESA Renewables’s 1.3MW commercial rooftop solar project in New Bern, North Carolina, US. ESA claims this will be one of the largest rooftop PV arrays in eastern North Carolina.
juwi solar has signed a contract to sell the electricity produced by its planned 19MW Queen Creek PV system in Arizona to Salt River Project (SRP). The 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) will begin once the installation is grid connected at the end of 2012.
Arizona Public Service’s (APS) Cotton Center solar plant has officially come online in Gila Bend, Arizona. The 17MW facility was developed and constructed by Solon and brings APS’ total renewable portfolio to 930MW. Constructed on 145 acres, and using over 93,000 single-axis tracking PV panels that were placed in 1,662 rows, the project is expected to fulfill the energy needs of over 4,000 APS customers.
Effective January 1, 2012, Robert Yorgensen will be STR Holdings’ new CEO and president. Dennis Jilot, who has served as the company’s CEO since 1997 will be retiring from the positions, but intends to remain as chairman of the board of directors.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have issued Rockford Solar Partners, a joint venture between Wanxiang American and New Generation Power, the FONSI, “Finding of No Significant Impact” for the proposed 20MW solar farm at the Rockford Airport. The project will be able to utilize 70 acres of land at the Chicago-Rockford International Airport for what is being called the largest commercial airport-based solar project in the US.
Enecsys announced that it has established a partnership with SMTC, a global electronics manufacturing service provider, which will see the company manufacture its micro inverters for the Canadian market at SMTC’s Markham facility in the York region of Ontario. This partnership will allow for Enecsys to meet and partake in the Ontario Power Authority’s FiT domestic content requirement for renewable energy projects.
Chevron Energy Solutions has completed the installation of a 1.15MW PV system at Dinuba’s wastewater treatment plant. The ground-mounted array, which sits atop a capped landfill adjacent to the plant, is made up of 4,704 modules and is expected to help cut the city’s electrical utility consumption by 70%.
Targray Technology International was selected by Giga Solar Materials as the global distributor for its back surface aluminum paste. The long-term agreement will see Targray distributed the solar cell aluminum paste throughout Europe, North America and India for mono- and multicrystalline silicon solar cells. The paste is said to be designed to for high efficiency, low-bowing, high material compatibility.
