Australia’s Capital Territory (ACT) feed-in tariff has been expanded to include medium to large-scale solar projects in order to cater for larger commercial and industrial farms as well as community groups. According to the Australian Solar Energy Society, the gross feed-in tariff, which pays a premium for all solar energy generated, is now available for solar panel installations 30kW to 200kW.
Soltec Renewable Energies and Shikun & Binui Solaria are set to build a 6.7MW solar power plant in the disused copper mines of Timna Valley in southern Israel.
Parabel has been commissioned to develop one of Europe’s largest solar systems, the 41MW park in Brandenburg, Germany. The park, situated on the site of a former military training ground, is currently in the first planning and approval phase, with construction expected to take place between June and August; the final phase will increase output to 90MW.
First, Tessera Solar sold its 850MW Calico Solar project to K Road Sun in late December and now the company has announced that its 709MW Imperial Valley solar project has been bought by AES Solar, who, like K Road, intends to convert the CSP project into a PV installation.
CIGS thin-film photovoltaics manufacturer SoloPower has received a conditional commitment for a $197 million loan guarantee from the US. Department of Energy Loan Programs office. The company said the funds will support construction of a flexible thin-film module manufacturing facility in Wilsonville, OR, that, when completed and at full capacity, is expected to have an annual capacity of approximately 400MW.
JA Solar's R&D team has developed and revealed its new high-power multicrystalline solar cell that is claimed to sport a conversion efficiency of 18.2%. Using its new “Maple” technology, the company states that its Maple cells feature silicon crystals that are broader, flatter and have less grain boundaries than traditional multicrystalline silicon. This new technology is said to allow for less energy waste and better conversion efficiency.
The 9REN Group recently closed on a funding lease from UniCredit Leasing that will go towards the financing of the Pacione 1 PV power plant. The Italian PV plant, located in the Taranto province, is complete and holds a 6.5MW capacity. Grid connection is expected to occur in the next few weeks.
With significant ingot and wafer capacity expansions, notably underway in Asia, the demand for slurry recycling is working in tandem. With a claimed 40% market share, SiC Processing is raising €100 million via a bond issue to further expand operations in Asia and other regions.
Lux Research’s new report, “Shorting Out the Myths of Solar Power Electronics: What Fits and What Fails,” has examined the power electronics options that are becoming increasingly available to solar installers and project developers in order to help establish what technologies actually offer the best performance and lowest cost in the residential, commercial and utility solar divisions.
Arizona Public Service (APS) is expanding upon its AZ Sun program with the development of a new 17MW PV facility in Gila Bend, Arizona. With the Paloma Solar Plant, APS’s AZ Sun program will have committed 83MW of solar capacity out of the 100MW it aims to finance and own upon the program’s completion, which is intended for sometime in 2014. First Solar was contracted by APS to design and build the Paloma Solar Plant and expects to have it online by September.
