Xcel Energy, a US electricity and natural gas company, has announced an end to its Solar Rewards scheme. Xcel Energy was seeking approximately 4.5MW of generation, from systems less than or equal to 500kW; it received approximately three times that amount in applications in about 30 minutes after the program opened at 8a.m. last week. Acceptance of applications ended after an hour.
Ingenostrum, a Spanish developer of PV projects, is planning to build another large-scale solar power plant in Antofagasta, Chile, Photon has revealed.
Three months of deliberations has resulted in the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) finding six US renewable energy initiatives guilty of flouting World Trade Organization laws. MOFCOM is dictating it will take necessary measures to force the US to cancel these initiatives in order to bring it inline with WTO statute.
Daqo New Energy Corporation, a Chinese manufacturer of polysilicon, has received a notification from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) claiming that the company does not meet its price criteria.
With a debt of ¥1.25 trillion (US$16 billion), Japanese electronics manufacturer Sharp Corporation has been feeling the weight on its shoulders and will submit an asset report to its banks next month in order to identify any flagging businesses it could sell to raise some finance, Reuters revealed.
Non-governmental organization (NGO), the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), is accusing US thin-film manufacturers of using a loop hole in the Indian government’s renewable energy scheme to “ruin the Indian domestic PV industry”. Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) initiative mandates a domestic content requirement, however, only for crystalline PV and not for thin-film.
SunEdison, a US developer of PV projects, has submitted plans to develop two PV plants in Antofagasta in northern Chile adding a total of 72MW of solar capacity to the country, according to the Chilean news site Diario Financiero. One plant will have a capacity of 33.48MW and the other will have 38.59MW.
Eltek announced that Underwriters Laboratories (UL) has given the company’s THEIA HE-t grid tie solar inverters the highest ratings in its product safety certification. The UL certification qualifies them for sale in the North American market, with Eltek advising that the product line is available immediately.
A report by Bloomberg has brought Solyndra back into the spotlight. The now defunct company reached a US$3.5 million settlement with former workers who filed suit against Solyndra, alleging that they had not received adequate layoff notices. The settlement resolves the issue that the company did not give employees 60 days’ notice under the Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act when it fired most of its workforce on August 31, 2011.
After entering discussions concerning two PPAs, Corporación Dominicana de Empresas Eléctricas Estatales (CDEEE) has signed on the dotted line enabling the state-owned utility to purchase output from two 58MW PV projects in the Dominican Republic.
