The California Energy Commission (CEC) has approved the construction and operation of two solar-thermal power plants with a planned total capacity of some 500MW at the Palen location in California. The second project location, developed by the American project development unit of the Solar Millennium Group, will therefore go ahead as planned. The entire approval procedure is expected to be completed with the decision by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) at the beginning of next year.
Solarfun Power has officially opened its North American office, located in Cheshire, Connecticut. The new office, which is Solarfun's second location in North America, is aimed at strengthening the company's service to customers and partners in the region. Solarfun also maintains a facility in Costa Mesa, California.
After 30 years as principal scientist at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), Gary Jorgensen is retiring to join SkyFuel as principal materials scientist. Amongst other achievements during his time at the NREL, Jorgensen co-invented ReflecTech Mirror Film, which used in SkyFuel's parabolic trough concentrating solar collector.
With an efficiency gain of nearly 1% in just six months, SoloPower has had certified a new, wider flexible CIGS module that is capable of producing up to 260Wp and has 12.1% aperture efficiency, as measured by NREL. The SFX3 module is claimed to be the most powerful flexible CIGS module currently in production. SoloPower says it has the first and only flexible CIGS products certified to both UL 1703 and IEC (61646 and 61730) standards.
In a bid to kick-start the photovoltaics sector in the Netherlands, Van der Valk Solar Systems, the manufacturer of components for the horticultural industry, has joined forces with GH Solar. So far, solar progress in the country has been slow, due to lack of a renewable subsidy structure; however the introduction of a feed-in tariff is expected in the near future.
The Czech Senate has approved a new law, which will add a 26% tax on solar energy production over the next three years, as well as 32% tax on carbon credits awarded to solar companies in the next two years. The new taxes will apply to all photovoltaic plants that were guaranteed to receive a fixed feed-in tariff (FiT) for a period of 20 years.
Phoenix Solar E.P.E., the Greek subsidiary of Phoenix Solar, will construct a 2MW grid-connected photovoltaic plant in the vicinity of Nafpaktos, central Greece for Greek investment group, Douneika Energy EE. The project was developed by the investors with the assistance of Athens-based Phoenix Solar E.P.E., and is financed by an unnamed Greek bank. This is Phoenix Solar E.P.E.'s largest contract to date.
Global electricity supplier Tenesol, owned by Total and EDF, has completed the first 'positive-energy' production facility in France. The project, which generates up to three and a half times more energy than it consumes, is located near Avignon, and is fully owned by Isoltop.
Semprius has completed the installation of the first microcell-based HCPV research development and demonstration (RD&D) system at Tucson Electric Power (TEP). The installation, which was completed in August this year, combines Semprius' HCPV modules with an automated solar tracking system from Siemens. The TEP project is part of a joint development agreement signed by Semprius and Siemens at the beginning of 2010, which aims to achieve the deployment of numerous new HCPV systems at test sites around the world.
Solar system company mp-tec has delivered its Skytrap tracking systems for one of the first solar farms in Denmark, which is being developed on behalf of the client, Linak. The 500m2 project, which is expected to generate 90,000kWh of power annually, is currently under construction and is due to be completed in early 2011.
