News

First Solar’s great ramp forward
First Solar reported a bumper quarter during Q2 by most metrics. The company’s net sales of $585 million were nearly double the previous year, on shipments 1.4 GW of product – the most in its history. Additionally, First Solar booked more than 2.1 GW of orders in July alone, a very positive start to Q3.
Aug 6, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Markets & Finance News, USA, SEIA, China, First Solar, Trump, Mark Widmar, Asia, North America
Bolsonaro clears Brazilian solar scheme at floating plant launch
Jair Bolsonaro has given the green light to a new solar scheme in Brazil’s northeast, marking its launch as he attended the opening of a separate floating project.
Aug 6, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Markets & Finance News, Grids, Floating PV, floating PV, South america, Latin america, Brazil, solar water pump, jair bolsonaro, Bento Albuquerque, Gustavo Canuto, Chesf, floating plant
New Jersey Resources to issue US$150m green bond for 50MW of solar
Energy provider New Jersey Resources (NJR) is selling US$150 million of green bonds to finance six commercial solar plants with a combined capacity of 50MW.
Aug 6, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Markets & Finance News, USA, New Jersey, solar pv, ssfusa, green financing, new jersey resources, financial results, clean energy ventures, North America
Xinte Energy profits in 1H 2019 to be significantly impacted by polysilicon price declines
Major China-based polysilicon producer, Xinte Energy has signalled a significant decline in expected profits for the first half of 2019, due to polysilicon ASPs declining 43% from the prior year period.
Aug 6, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Markets & Finance News, China, CPIA, SMSL, xinte energy, polysilicon, c-si manufacturing, wacker chemie, ASPs, JinkoSolar, JYT, Asia
Ground-mounted PV auction set to boost France’s capacity by 10%
A major ground-mounted PV auction in France is set to boost the country’s solar capacity by 10%, with 107 developers successfully bidding on 858MW of capacity spread evenly across the country.
Aug 6, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Grids, Tariffs, France, Wood Mackenzie, Engie, tender, auctions, ground-mounted pv, Europe
Solar scores lowest average prices in Argentina’s smaller-scale tender
Solar has emerged as the overall cheapest technology in Argentina’s latest clean energy tender, aimed at smaller-scale installations.
Aug 6, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Markets & Finance News, Canadian Solar, solar pv, Argentina, South america, Latin america, renovar, cammesa, auction ppa, MiniRen tender
Duke Drops Largest Solar Project in North Carolina Procurement — Its Own
The cancellation of an 80-megawatt project with no financial penalty raises questions about a monopoly utility competing against private developers.
Aug 6, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Markets & Finance News, USA, North Carolina, Duke Energy, Randy Wheeless, Chris Carmody, Accion Group, Cypress Creek Renewables, utilities, North America
Ormat starts operation at unique hybrid geothermal-solar power plant in Nevada
Supported by an innovative portfolio contract with its power purchasers, Ormat Technologies has now started commercial operations of its innovative hybrid solar-geothermal power plant at Tungsten Mountain, Nevada.
Aug 5, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Solar, USA, Nevada, Geothermal, hybrid, Ormat Technologies, power plant, Tungsten Mountain, North America
Fabric-based solar cells on the horizon
New textile-based solar cells developed by Fraunhofer researchers, semitrailers could soon be producing the electricity needed to power cooling systems or other onboard equipment. In short, textile-based solar cells could soon be adding a whole new dimension to photovoltaics, complementing the use of conventional silicon-based solar cells.
Aug 5, 2019 // Technology, Manufacturing News, Solar, Germany, Fraunhofer, textile-based solar cells, Europe
SibFU scientists discovered material that can make solar cells more efficient
Researchers at Siberian Federal University, together with colleagues from the Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm, Sweden), discovered new properties of material based on palladium, which can increase the performance of solar cells.
Aug 5, 2019 // Technology, Manufacturing News, Solar, Solar to Fuel, Sweden, SibFU, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, solar cells, palladium, Artem Kuklin, Europe, hydrogen, Solar to Fuel, Solar to Hydrogen, Producing Hydrogen, Hydrogen from renewable, Renewable fuels
Renovalia nails financing for Spain’s first merchant PV project
The €29.7 million financing package was awarded by Banco Sabadell. Renovalia’s 79.2 MW solar park will be Spain’s first PV facility to sell all of its output on the spot market.
Aug 5, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Markets & Finance News, Solar, Spain, PV plants, pv modules, Renovalia, Banco Sabadell, El Bonal, Europe
Lightsource BP proposes 100 MW solar farm in South Australia
U.K. solar developer Lightsource BP plans to host a community information event in the town of Mannum, South Australia, to outline a proposal to fund, build and operate a 100 MW solar project.
Aug 5, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Solar, UTILITY-SCALE SOLAR, UK, Lightsource BP, South Australia, Adam Pegg, Europe, shell
More floating PV for Thailand
French floating PV specialist Ciel&Terre is teaming up with SCG, an Asian petrochemical company, to develop floating solar plants at hydroelectric dams in Thailand.
Aug 5, 2019 // Plants, Floating PV, Ciel&Terre, SCG, Thailand, floating PV, EGAT, Asia
Understanding solid state degradation
Scientists at the U.K.’s Faraday Institution have been able to observe degradation mechanisms at the lithium metal anode in a solid state battery, and made several discoveries which could improve the performance and design of future solid-state lithium-ion batteries.
Aug 5, 2019 // Technology, Storage, Lithium-ion batteries, storage, UK, Oxford University, Tony Harper, Europe
Sterling and Wilson Solar to launch IPO this week
The Shapoorji Pallonji Group’s solar EPC business will hit the capital markets with an initial public offering on Aug. 6.
Aug 5, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Markets & Finance News, India, IPO, SWSL, utility-scale PV