Following a continued downturn in operating results, Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) will close its 650MW multicrystalline wafer plant at Herøya, Norway by the second quarter of 2012. The closure of the Herøya plant, in the south of the country, will signal the end of all REC’s wafer operations in Norway after the closure of the Glomfjord monocrystalline plant on March 20, 2012.
Scandinavian solar power company REC has sold a German ground mounted 6MW PV plant in Bitterfeld to two Chorus Group investors, including Chorus Cleantech. REC took over the project in 2011 from the plant’s former developer, Grüne Energien, and successfully developed, financed and constructed the project with project financing from the Deutsche Kreditbank (DKB). Construction was finished in December 2011 to ensure the project’s eligibility for the higher 2011 FiT.
Rainer Ott, sales director at DEGERenergie since early 2011, will take charge of the company’s global sales with immediate effect. Since joining DEGERenergie Ott has impressed as the business manager of the company’s US, Spanish and Greek subsidiaries. His new responsibilities will include the research of new markets for potential investment and developing the company’s international distribution network.
Solarhybrid Israel, subsidiary of Solarhybrid, recently sold 201MWp of project rights, which it originally bought in January for US$2,391,705, to Summit Energy of Israel. Under the agreement, current liabilities of Solarhybrid Israel amounted to US$398,617.50, while earn-out-payments in connection with the acquisition of the project rights totaled US$5,580,645.
This weekend, Spain will be following in the footsteps of its European cousins, having organised a demonstration against cuts to its solar incentive scheme and energy moratorium. April 22, Earth Day, at noon, Spaniards will march from Santo Domingo Opera Dos de Mayo in the hope their government will take heed of their warning even though similar events in Germany and Italy fell on deaf ears. The UK is currently the only European country to have had any success against curtailing feed-in tariff cuts, no matter how short term the result may be.
SPI Solar recently entered a purchase agreement with the Greek Thermi-Taneo Venture Capital Fund. Thermi-Taneo will acquire three PV projects in the Evros region totalling 7.4MW from SPI. The purchase includes the permits to construct the PV plants as well as the land lease. Further, SPI will act as the EPC contractor for the 7.4MW PV projects, which are expected to complete construction in late 2012.
The European Photonics Industry Consortium (EPIC) has announced that Carlos Lee will become its new director general with immediate effect. The announcement, made at the association’s recent annual general meeting, will see Lee replace Thomas Pearsall, who has been with the organization since its formulation in 2003.
Heliotrop’s HCPV1024 consortium was recently awarded €16 million by the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), which will support a total investment program of €44 million to build manufacturing facilities and install Heliotrop CPV modules.
Canadian Solar has established a new reseller program for its products in the EMEA region. The Authorized Reseller Program will allow companies registered with Canadian Solar to offer the company’s solar product range in the region, and will also enable them to avail of further features such as technical product training and professional sales and marketing support.
