Under a 6MW distribution agreement, Focused Energy is to offer Upsolar's line of modules to its North American customers throughout 2011, with an option to extend the contract by an additional 2MW. Focused Energy began shipping Upsolar's modules in June 2010 on a trial basis and has now opted to expand the distribution agreement into 2011.
Rhodia is planning to install 12,000m² of PV panels at the Rhodia Belle-Etoile site in Rhône, France. Solairedirect, the solar module manufacturer, and OFI Asset Management will partner Rhodia on the project, which will boast a peak capacity of 2MW and produce two million kilowatt hours of electricity per annum.
United Solar has finished work on a solar power project for the rooftop of the Moon Palace Hotel in Cancun, Mexico. The development was led by Enel Green Power, with support coming from the Mexican Environment Ministry, SEMARNAT, and the Italian Ministry of the Environment, and will generate 220MWh of electricity per year.
Canadian Solar has completed and activated what it claims as the largest private solar electric system in Worcester, Massachusetts on the roof of the McDonough Center at the Bancroft School. The 105kW roof-mount was activated before the 2010 school year began and utilizes 462 Canadian Solar CS6P-230P polycrystalline modules. The installation is expected to produce 117,000kWh annually for the McDonough Center.
E.ON Climate & Renewables (EC&R) is no stranger to solar installations. The company expects 50MW of PV farms to be in construction by the middle of 2011, which will add to its 450MW of PV farms in France and Italy. As the installations continue, EC&R, over the next three years, is looking to bring solar power to the same level of success that it feels the wind sector currently holds.
Phoenix Solar is constructing two PV plants in Italy, with a combined capacity of 8.9MWp. Building work on the 6.1MWp Taranto and 2.8MWp Alessandria plants began in October, with a completion date scheduled for the end of December.
EDF Energies Nouvelles has commissioned two solar photovoltaic power plants in Italy with a combined capacity of 26.1MWp. The first plant, located in Loreo, northern Italy will be a 12.6MWp ground-based project. The second, 13.5MWp facility is to be constructed in Priolo, in the south of the country. Both plants will utilize thin-film panels supplied by First Solar.
Benjamin Moore and Constellation Energy are on the verge of completing a new solar power system that is expected to generate 68% of the electricity required to power Benjamin Moore's 80,000 square foot research and development facility in Flanders, New Jersey. The 1.7MW plant, which comprises of 8,600 crystalline PV solar panels and can generate 2,230,000kW hours of electricity per annum, is expected to be operational by the end of the year and will reduce the company's greenhouse gas emissions by 1,600 metric tonnes.
Just over a year ago, the Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECo) got approval from the Department of Public Utilities to build 6MW of solar facilities in the New England region over the next two years and the first of its projects has come to a successful completion at the William Stanley Business Park in Pittsfield. The 1.8MW solar installation is the first in the 6MW solar program and is situated on eight acres of land owned by WMECo and the Pittsfield Economic Development using around 6,500 solar panels.
