Nicaragua’s Ministry of Energy and Mines has started construction on a 1.38MW project in the west of the country. The solar farm, located 12km from the city of Diriamba, will be partly funded by the Japanese, with an investment of US$12 million. According to Nicaraguan newspaper El Nuavo Diario, the PV installation will become the largest in Central America.
Canadian Solar and SkyPower Energy have entered a purchase agreement under which Canadian Solar will purchase a majority in 16 of SkyPower’s Ontario PV projects. Fifteen of these projects are included in Ontario’s FiT program while one is part of the Ontario renewable energy standard offer program.
Zentric has announced that it is planning to acquire Innovative Solar I and Innovative Solar II. Both companies are developers and owners of two separate PV plants to be constructed in Leicester, North Carolina with each of the plants having an estimated value of US$4 million.
Ikea continues to make its stores more sustainable. The company has connected a 1,063kW PV system at its store in Paramus, New Jersey to the grid. The system is 132,000 square feet in size and utilizes 4,620 PV panels. This is Ikea’s 17th solar power installation in the US.
Ikea does not have any PPAs but operates every store’s system itself. Just like with former projects, REC Solar was responsible for the design, development and installation of the system.
In 1854, Matthew C. Perry - the Commander of the US Navy - compelled Japan to openup to its economy to foreign trade, after more than 200 years of a self-imposed isolation policy enforced by the ruling Tokugawa Shogun. The Commander arrived in Japan with four black-coloured US Navy warships, billowing black smoke. Later the term ‘Black Ships’ would be coined in Japan to symbolize any threat imposed by Western technology.
Silverado Power and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has announced that it has signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Western Antelope Dry Ranch and Victor Mesa Linda, two Californian Silverado Power subsidiaries. The two projects will supply a total of 15MW, enough electricity to power an estimated 3,225 homes.
Puerto Rican company AES Ilumina, a subsidiary of AES Solar, has announced the construction of a 24MW solar power plant in Guayama, Puerto Rico, the first utility-scale plant on the Caribbean island.
The first PV power plant constructed by Kolkata-based EMC has begun commercial operation on March 4. EMC developed the 5MW project as part of the union ministry of new and renewable energy’s Jawharlal Nehru national solar mission. Around 21,300 solar modules have been installed on a site of 25 acres in Naini, near Allahabad. EMC has signed a 25-year PPA with NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam.
Hoku Solar has announced signing an agreement with a subsidiary of Alexander &Baldwin (A&B) to design and build 7.2MW Port Allen Solar Farm on the island of Kaua’i, Hawaii.
First Solar has sold the 50MW Silver State North solar power plant to Enbridge, the two companies announced today. First Solar has installed more than 800.000 PV modules on a site of 600 acres in Clark County, Nevada under a fixed-price EPC agreement and will be providing operations and maintenance services to Enbridge.
