Solar electricity News for July 2011

Solar electricity News Archive

Uterne solar plant opens in Australia

SunPower has announced the completion of the 1 MW Uterne tracking solar power plant in Alice Springs.

First Solar claims record for CdTe solar efficiency

The 17.3% efficiency mark for cadmium-telluride (CdTe) solar photovoltaic (PV) cells has been confirmed by NREL.

'Smart’ PV inverter market to grow to 27 GW

Shipments of smart solar photovoltaic (PV) inverters are forecast to grow to 27 GW by 2015, according to IMS Research

Thermax signs CPV deal with Amonix

Thermax and Amonix have signed a deal to bring concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) technology to India.

Shell opens green entrepreneur awards

UK companies with ideas to tackle climate change can now apply for Shell Springboard awards of up to £40,000.

SunPower Q2 revenue in line with forecasts

SunPower’s preliminary second quarter results reflect changing market conditions and policies in Germany and Italy.

DuPont buys silicon ink specialist Innovalight

DuPont has expanded its solar photovoltaic (PV) materials portfolio with the acquisition of Innovalight.

Bosch opens new solar PV centre

The new solar research and production centre in Germany will be powered by photovoltaic (PV) energy.

Centrosolar annual forecast downgraded

Centrosolar Group’s annual revenue forecast has been downgraded by approximately 20% following a reduction in market prices.

Solarplaza anticipates "PV oversupply this year"

Solarplaza has found that the top 10 solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturers alone (in terms of 2011 announced module production capacity) could have met 2010 global module demand.

PV suppliers feel margin squeeze

IMS Research has found solar photovoltaic (PV) suppliers engaged in a price war and unable to reduce their costs as quickly as their prices.

3TIER map measures solar in Australia

A new map developed by 3TIER appears to show correlation between a drop in Australia’s solar energy and the 2010 floods.

ReneSola ships new solar wafers

Solar manufacturer ReneSola claims to have sold over 50 MW of its new Virtus solar modules and wafers.

Sekisui Jushi and Kyocera develop solar shelter Sekisui Jushi and Kyocera develop solar shelter

The multi-purpose solar shelter can be used in public places and is available for the Japanese market.

12 MW Zerbst II solar plant sold to Berlin investment group

Developer Q-Cells will sell the park to MCG Management Capital Group, and the turnkey handover will take place imminently.

FE Clean Energy Group invests US$40m in NSL

The money will go towards developing the NSL Group’s wind, hydro and solar energy projects in India.

New solar energy partnership in Spain and Italy

Munich Re and KKR have bought a stake in solar photovolatic (PV) producer Grupo T-Solar.

REC reports 17% drop in earnings

The REC Group says the solar market weakened significantly in the second quarter of 2011.

Suntech releases new solar module for Israeli market

Suntech's new 300W solar module can achieve up to 15.5% conversion efficiency.

Andasol 3 produces energy for the first time Andasol 3 produces energy for the first time

The CSP solar thermal power plant in Andalusia, southern Spain has produced solar generated steam during a test phase, in which the rows of parabolic mirrors were aligned with the sun.

Q-Cells partners with German football champs

German football club Borussia Dortmund is joining Q-Cells to promote solar energy.

Sopogy signs agreement on Thai solar project

The solar deal is part of the company's plans to expand into South-East Asia.

Abengoa opens hybrid solar / gas plant in Algeria

The new Algerian plant will generate electricity from both solar energy and natural gas.

Risø DTU and Mekoprint mass produce polymer solar cells Risø DTU and Mekoprint mass produce polymer solar cells

10,000 polymer solar cell-powered torches were manufactured and given away.

Conergy completes 5 MW UK solar plant

The 5 MW solar power plant in Nottinghamshire was built in just 6 weeks.

JDSU buys UK solar manufacturer QuantaSol

Concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) specialist QuantaSol has been bought for US$638,000.

Renewable energy produced 20% of 2010 global electricity

Renewable energy supplied 16% of global final energy consumption and almost 20% of electricity production in 2010, according to REN21.

Sharp wins solar PV module award

EuPD Research has branded Sharp Energy Solution Europe as a leading solar photovoltaic (PV) module producer.

SolarWorld floats €150m bond

The SolarWorld bond is likely to be listed on the Luxembourg stock exchange.

BIPV market could grow by US$9 billion in five years

The building integrated solar photovoltics (BIPV) market could reach US$11 billion by 2016, a report predicts.

SunBorne Energy pilots 1 MW solar thermal in India

SunBorne Energy is part of an R&D project looking into solar thermal in India, co-funded by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and the Government of India.

Siemens installs 50 MW CSP in Spain

Siemens Energy will supply and build the 50 MW Termosolar Olivenza 1 solar concentrating power (CSP) plant in Extremadura, Spain, for Spanish EPC UTE Termosolar Olivenza.

UK opposition party questions solar feed-in tariff cuts

UK’s main opposition party, Labour, is questioning the Government’s move to substantially cut solar feed-in tariffs for installations over 50 kW.

Centrosolar delivers solar modules to Kenya Centrosolar delivers solar modules to Kenya

Centrosolar has delivered solar photovoltaic (PV) modules for a solar plant for SOS Children’s Village in Mombasa, Kenya.

22 GW of solar opportunities in India

India’s first national solar policy is targeting 22 GW of installed solar capacity by 2022, 2 GW of which will be off-grid while the remaining 20 GW will be grid-connected.

Sanyo completes large HIT tracking solar plant

What could be the world's largest HIT (Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer) tracking solar project, with an overall system size of 7.56 MW, has been completed in Torre Santa Susanna, Italy.

SolarWorld focuses on US and German sites

Following the sale of its shares in the joint venture production site in South Korea, SolarWorld is focusing on its production sites in Germany and the US.

Abengoa to build 100 MW of CSP in Spain

Abengoa has completed financing on two 50 MW concentrating solar power (CSP) plants in Spain.