Industrial power supplies and PV inverter specialist, AEG Power Solutions is to acquired by Andrem Power, which is itself wholly owned by Nordic Capital Fund VII. Andrem Power said it had started a voluntary public takeover offer for all outstanding shares of 3W Power, AEG’s parent company for €4.35 in cash per share, a 40% premium to its average share price over the last 3 months.
PV equipment start-up, Nines Photovoltaics, has raised €750,000 to further develop and build its dry etching silicon wafer tool. The Dublin, Ireland-based firm started operations in 2010 and has been collaborating with the Fraunhofer ISE, with plans for the tool to be validated at its pilot production line. The company has raised to date to over €2.5 million, including €1.2 million through FP7 European Funding, which was announced in June 2011. The new funding will also be used to recruit additional staff, according to the company.
SunPower has installed 5.4MW of SunPower E20 solar panels on three rooftop locations at Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport. The system is expected to generate the equivalent of 51% of the electricity demand at the airport’s rental car centre, two East Economy parking garages and toll plaza, saving US$4.7 million over the next 20 years. The installation was constructed in two months.
The Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy (CASE) announced GT Advanced Technologies and REC Silicon have been welcomed into the fold. The US-based companies will be joining the cause against the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturers (CASM) who claims Chinese manufacturers are trading unfairly.
The American General Services Administration (GSA) has awarded Borrego Solar Systems a contract that allows it to provide its solar installation services to federal agencies.
PanelClaw has announced the ETL listing of all its products to UL Subject 2703, which establishes safety and performance requirements for PV mounting systems. PanelClaw’s ETL listing includes modules from Canadian Solar, Chaori Solar, ET Solar, Gloria Solar, Helios Solar Works, LDK Solar, Mitsubishi Electric, Motech, MX Solar and Suniva.
Sub-Saharan Africa could still be without electricity in 2030, if the continent does not take advantage of its wealth of untapped, domestic renewable energy, said a United Nations report released today. Government policies that facilitate private sector investment in energy markets are crucial to reducing poverty and encouraging sustainable development.
Polysilicon price declines on the spot market have finally taken their toll on Yingli Green and its polysilicon operations, Fine Silicon. An asset write down of US$361 million has been made on Fine Silicon assets of which a US$43 million impairment of goodwill is to be made in its fourth quarter financial statements. However, Yingli also said it would make a provision of approximately US$135 million on its polysilicon inventory as a result of the continuing decline in the purchase price.
Better than expected market demand, across multiple regions in the fourth quarter of 2011 has led to Canadian Solar to significantly increase its module shipment guidance ahead of releasing Q4 and full-year results on March 7th. Previously, the company guided fourth quarter shipments to be in the range of 340MW - 360MW, inline with third quarter shipment levels and in contrast to many of its tier 1 rivals. However, the company expects shipments to be in the range of 430MW - 440 MW.
The last 12 months for Suntech have been quite successful, even amid the chaos surrounding Suntech’s response to accusations by US companies of impeding US growth. Technology Review’s annual list comprises 50 of the world’s most innovative companies and Suntech has been nominated in the energy and materials category. Editors look for companies that have demonstrated original, valuable technology to market and significantly influencing their competitors.
Taiwan-based NexPower Technology has announced that it will ship approximately 12MW of its a-Si thin-film modules for use in Japan-based projects. The company plans for these shipments to be spread across three promotional channels: local distributions, EPCs and construction developers.
Following-on from a €25 million project partnership between Tenesol and Morocco’s National Electricity Office for PV power systems to be deployed across 26,000 rural homes in Morocco, the SunPower subsidiary is also currently working on a €4.5 million solar telecoms project in Morocco. The company is supplying more than 4,500 PV panels to Maroc Telecom for use at 42 sites across the country. Overall, Tenesol claims to have installed 3,000 systems for the telecoms industry.
Through collaboration with international charitable organization WorldVenture, South Sudan is now the fourth country in which Eight19’s pay-as-you-go off-grid PV system is in operation. The plan is to deploy 1,000 units in the first half of 2012 in South Sudan and a total of 3,000 units of its small flexible OPV modules in Kenya, Zambia and Malawi.
Apple has announced in its Facilities Report it is to construct the largest end user owned, onsite solar array in the US. The rumours surrounding the technology company’s renewable energy goals have been put to bed. The 20MW facility, in Maiden, North Carolina, will be installed on 100 acres of land, supplying 42 million kWh of renewable energy annually. Apple will also be building a fuel cell installation, powered by 100% biogas to provide more than 40 million kWh of baseload renewable energy annually.
The fuss over electricity payments by Hoku Materials to Idaho Power for its polysilicon plant, have been resolved with a reduction in payments through June 30, 2013. With the delayed start-up of the plant due to financial constraints, previously expected power consumption rates by the plant weren’t realised but the utility still claimed for US$2 million a month in payments, previously agreed. The cash strapped firm will now pay approximately US$800,000 per month.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has, in collaboration with New Energy Technologies, produced the world’s largest-area OPV module ever at 170cm2. The companies’ engineers have worked together on developing New Energy’s SolarWindow technology that allows the generation of electricity on see-through glass windows.
Europe Solar Utility (ESU) has announced the sale of one of the last solar PV installations to be completed under the UK’s previous feed-in tariff, to an undisclosed investor. The three installations, which total 3.7MW, have been built on land owned by water regulator Thames Water. The area is equivalent to ten football pitches and will generate up to 3,500MWh – enough to run around 750 homes, saving Thames Water around £100,000 a year.
Bio-based PV module backsheet developer, BioSolar claims that a customer is preparing a batch of solar panels with its ‘BioBacksheet’ material for full panel recertification by Underwriter’s Laboratories (UL). In March, 2011 the company announced it was supplying sample material for PV module manufacturers based in Asia for evaluation.
The coalition of Masdar PV and Gehrlicher Solar has completed a 7.7kWp roof-top installation in Belgium, claimed to be the second of its kind, for French company InnoVent.
As part of its utility-scale project pipeline in Imperial Valley, California, 8minutenergy Renewables has signed a 25-year contract to sell 200MW (AC) from the planned Mount Signal Solar project to San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E). The Mount Signal Solar project is expected to begin supply to SDG&E in mid-2013 and has an 18-month construction time, employing 450 direct jobs and more than 500 indirect jobs in Imperial County. The contract is pending approval from the California Public Utilities Commission.
On February 21st, 2012 Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Ltd. (Baoding, China) released selected preliminary results for its fourth quarter and full year 2011, estimating a near 30% quarter-to-quarter decline in module shipments and a gross margin of 3% during the fourth quarter. Yingli had expected a "low to middle 20's percent" decrease in module shipments in the fourth quarter, and a gross margin of roughly 10%. The company has re-affirmed its full year 2011 PV module shipment guidance of 1.58 GW to 1.63 GW.
On February 21st, 2012 Canadian Solar Inc. (Kitchener, Canada) released an updated shipment guidance for the fourth quarter of 2011, estimating that it shipped between 430 MW and 440 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules during the quarter. This represents a 24% increase from its earlier guidance and a 23% increase from the 355 MW the company shipped in the third quarter of 2011. Canadian Solar maintains its earlier gross margin guidance of between 5% and 8% for the quarter.
Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (Wuxi, China), the world's largest producer of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, has been included in the 2012 TR50, Technology Review's annual list of the world's 50 most innovative technology companies, for its success in developing and commercializing advanced solar technology.
On February 21st, 2012 Eight19 Ltd. (Cambridge, U.K.) announced that it has begun deploying its pay-as-you-go IndiGo off-grid solar photovoltaic (PV) solution in South Sudan, in partnership with NGO WorldVenture (Littleton, Colorado, U.S.). The company expects that it will deploy 1000 units in the first half of 2012 in the nation's Nimule region. South Sudan is the fourth African nation where Eight19 has deployed its IndiGo system.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.) has launched an online tool which analyzes solar photovoltaic (PV) cell materials and processing steps, offering estimates of efficiencies for the resulting cells. "Impurities to Efficiency (I2E)" uses basic physics and a detailed computer simulation to predict how electricity-blocking iron particles will behave during the wafer-manufacturing process. The I2E website has been online since July 2011, and MIT estimates that users have already carried out roughly 2,000 simulations.
The Solar America Board for Codes and Standards (SolarABCS, Cocoa, Florida, U.S.) has issued a report which examines the rate impacts of net metering policies on utility rates for non-participating customers. "A Generalized Approach to Assessing the Rate Impacts of Net Energy Metering" puts forth a methodology for the valuation of net-metering which it says is focused on best practices. SolarABCS specifically argues that assessments should include all the benefits of distributed generation, including long-term benefits from the deferral of utility generation on transmission and distribution facilities.
On February 21st, 2012 the U.K.'s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) announced that it has applied to the U.K. Supreme Court to appeal a series of rulings which found the timing of its cuts to the nation's feed-in tariff (FIT) for solar photovoltaic (PV) generation to be illegal. Both the Solar Trade Association (STA) and the Renewable Energy Association expressed disappointment with the Conservative-led DECC's decision to appeal the rulings, stating that this will prolong the uncertainty for the solar industry as to FIT levels for the period between December 12th, 2011 and March 3rd, 2012.
On February 21st, 2012 Sunways AG (Konstanz, Germany) released preliminary financial information for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2011, estimating fourth quarter revenues of EUR 31.2 million (USD 41.3 million) and an EBIT roughly at third quarter 2011 levels, which stood at EUR -11.8 million (USD -15.6 million). Despite these losses, Sunways increased its module sales during the fourth quarter to a new record of 22.1 MW, as well as reaching an annual PV module sales record of 66.8 MW in 2011. The company estimates sales of EUR 115 million (USD 152 million) over the full year 2011, roughly half its 2010 sales of EUR 223 million.
On February 17th, 2012 The U.K. Government announced agreements for French cooperation to grow the nation's nuclear power industry, in a meeting between U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicholas Sarkozy. In public statements, the Government is attempting to cast expanding the nuclear industry as building the green economy. However, this focus on nuclear power comes in sharp contrast to the ruling Conservative Party leadership's frequent conflicts with the U.K. solar industry.
On February 16th, 2012, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced more than USD 6.5 million for 9 clean energy projects that will allow Native American Tribes to advance clean energy within their communities by assessing local energy resources, developing renewable energy projects and deploying clean energy technologies. “As President Obama highlighted in the State of the Union, the Administration is committed to building an American economy that lasts and leverages our nation’s clean energy resources,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said.
On February 17th, 2012, Odersun AG (Frankfurt, Germany) announced that it has supplied its "CISCuT" thin-film photovoltaic (PV) modules for a pavilion designed by Ortner + Ortner Baukunst (Berlin, Germany) on the campus of Potsdam University of Applied Sciences. Designed as a “live gallery”, the 35-meter-long PV pavilion will be used for social events and presentations.
On February 16th, 2012, Pike Research LLC (Boulder, Colorado, U.S.) released a new report stating that the growing need to integrate intermittent renewable sources of energy, particularly solar and wind power, into the power grid will help drive significant growth in energy storage systems (ESS) for ancillary services over the next decade.
On February 16th, 2012, Advanced Energy Economy (AEE, San Francisco, California, U.S.), a national business organization promoting U.S. companies as global suppliers of innovative energy technologies and solutions, announced the addition of First Solar Inc. (Tempe, Arizona, U.S.), Duke Energy Corp. (Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.) and Wind Capital Group (Saint Louis, Missouri, U.S.) executives to its board of directors.