Having bucked plans to aggressively pursue potential new markets in the Middle-East, Phoenix Solar has found the eastern-edge of Europe as a better bet, signing an exclusive partnership with Turkey’s leading installer, iRES Enerji.
Struggling Dutch module manufacturer, Solland Solar said it was forced to drastically reduce its remaining operations after the successful sale of its solar cell production facility, due to tough market conditions. Both its commercial and module assembly operations are being curtailed, without providing details, affecting approximately 100 employees.
Tensions in German chancellor Angela Merkel’s government continue over the future of feed-in tariffs. Economy minister Philipp Roesler is calling for an overhaul to the country’s subsidy system for renewable energy, created in the 1990s to ensure the clean-power industry remains competitive.
Verified by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Q-Cells said it had set new conversion efficiency records for multicrystalline and quasi-mono solar modules. A module with 60 multicrystalline solar cells, using its ‘Q.ANTUM’ cell concept was reported to have achieved 18.5% efficiency, up from a record Q-Cells claimed it had achieved of 18.1% last year. The market introduction of the Q.ANTUM solar cells and modules is planned for 2012 with pilot production at its advanced facility in Thalheim, Germany already underway.
Better than expected revenue figures have been reported by aleo solar, though previously guided losses of €25-€30 million are still expected for the full-year 2011, according to the company. aleo solar had previously guided revenue to be in the region of €440 million but this has been raised to €462 million, down 17% compared to 2010 revenue of €554 million.
Following a successful trial project in 2010, Brussels Airport has now installed 7,220 monocrystalline solar panels to its logistics building at Brucargo West. With a total capacity of 1.7MWp and an annual energy production of 1,500MWh, this output is comparable to the annual energy consumption of about 450 families. The energy produced is injected straight into the airport’s power grid and will cover about 1% of the annual consumption of the airport.
The UK solar industry has finally received some good news this week, with the opening of a solar panel manufacturing facility in Jarrow, South Tyneside, creating more than 20 jobs.
For the second consecutive year after autumn 2009, preliminary estimates of electricity demand in Italy last year shows a 0.6% growth on 2010. The total energy demand in 2011 amounted to 332.3 billion kWh. PV accounted for 2.8% out of 64.7% of domestic production. However, the net national production (289.2 billion kWh) is a decrease of 0.5% compared to 2010.
Citing an intensely competitive market environment, SMA Solar Technology, the leading PV inverter manufacturer, reported preliminary full-year financial results of €1.7 billion in sales for 2011. SMA Solar had previously cut €200 million from its previous forecast of €1.9 billion to €1.7 billion, with results therefore coming in at the lowered figure. SMA Solar reported 2010 sales of €1.9 billion. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) were reported as being more than €240 million.
According to Solar Novus Today, the Gestore dei Servizi Energetici (GSE) of Italy will allow TÜV Rheinland to conduct design qualification and type approval testing on PV modules and systems. The organizations noted that the agreement specifically calls for the testing of crystalline silicon flat-plate PV modules according to the IEC 61215 standard, thin-film flat plate PV modules under the IEC 61646 standard and CPV modules and assemblies in compliance with the IEC 62108 standard.
