Hawaiian electrical contractor Helix Electric has been supplied with 7.2MW of solar modules from ET Solar, the company has announced. The modules will be used to equip the Port Allen solar farm on the island of Kaua’i, Hawaii. The generated energy will be sold under a 20-year PPA to Kaua’i Island Utility.
Martier Solar’s expansion plans are slowly being realized with a 229kW PV solar system at Hertz’s global headquarters in Park Ridge, New Jersey, US. This is one of a series of approximately 15 PV systems designed and installed at Hertz facilities around the US. The array is expected to produce more than 263,000kWh of renewable energy on an annual basis.
Greentech Media reports that New Jersey’s Senate and General Assembly have agreed to pass the solar “resurrection bill” (A-2966), voting to approve the substitutions and amendments. The legislation is said to potentially sustain a healthy rate of solar project development and job growth in the state.
International Power Canada’s (IPC) 10MW Brockville Solar project has begun construction in Leeds County, Ontario. The project site has been cleared and final engineering has commenced. The company expects for civil works to continue through the summer in order to construct the racks for the modules.
In 2011, California became the first US state to install more than 1GW of customer-generated solar energy, according to figures published by the California Public Utilities Commission. The report, California Solar Initiative (CSI) also demonstrates that 311MW were installed in the investor-owned utility territories last year. The CSI program has received a budget of US$2.4 billion and is aiming to reach 1,940MW of solar capacity by the end of 2016.
Inverter supplier Santerno has been awarded a supply contract worth 155MW for its skid inverter stations to be installed in an Imperial Valley, California solar plant. The company is yet to disclose further details on the project.
Ontario’s Thunder Bay Airport Solar Park has been chosen as a finalist in Intersolar North America’s 2012 Solar Project Award competition. The project, owned and developed by SkyPower and EPC-contracted to Canadian Solar was hand-selected by an expert panel as one of entries under the “Solar Projects North America” category.
Continuing market constraints and unattainable cost bases have conspired to force Schott Solar’s management to withdraw from c-Si PV manufacturing completely. Although the company’s thin-film and CSP activities are unaffected by this news, this exit from the c-Si sector will affect around 870 employees as well as its Mainz and Alzenau plants in Germany, Valasske Mezirici in the Czech Republic and Albuquerque in New Mexico.
It appears that the next victim of this most ruthless of competitions – the solar shakeout – is CdTe thin-film manufacturer Abound Solar. Another controversial recipient of a DOE loan guarantee, the company will be closing its doors next week, a claim that has been confirmed on the DOE's website today. According to a GTM Research report, the company will finally cave to cost pressure from CdTe leader First Solar and the general plummeting product costs across the PV manufacturing board.
New Jersey has passed a law that requires companies to purchase more solar energy, it has been announced. According to the bill, companies have to obtain 2.05% of their total energy from solar in the energy year (EY) 2014 under the new renewable portfolio standard. After that, the amount of solar energy required will be raised every year to 4.10% by 2028.
