Solar Large-Scale Plants News

German developer JP Joule is set to begin construction of a 25.4 MW solar plant to sell power on the spot market as part of a diversified plant portfolio. The facility, in the province of Alberta, will expand the increasing list of unsubsidized projects announced in the region in recent months.

The Netherlands-administered Caribbean island last year saw almost half its power demand provided by a 4.1 MW solar-plus-storage plant, commissioned in late 2017. The facility generated 6.5 million kWh of the 14.3 million kWh of electricity consumed in the territory in 2018.

A study has estimated the cost of PV project soiling may increase from €3-5 billion last year to €4-7 billion by 2023 due to more extensive deployment in high insolation and soiling-affected regions, such as China and India. The authors of the paper outlined the potential of soiling mitigation technologies while stressing more R&D is needed to reduce costs and for the adoption of such measures on a larger scale.

The Australian utility-scale PV and wind industries have just gone through a record two years of construction and commissioning. More specifically, writes Rystad Energy’s David Dixon, utility-scale PV has transformed from a megawatt-scale market to one measured in gigawatts. The resultant boom in utility-scale PV in the country has attracted developers, EPCs and OEMs, from at home and across the globe.

‘Solar Module Super League’ (SMSL) member, First Solar said it was sold out of thin-film cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar modules through the second half of 2021 as the company continues to ramp its Series 6 larger-area modules.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) has witnessed the installation of what is being billed as its leading distributed solar project to date, scattered across dozens of locations.

DE Shaw Renewable Investments has purchased two neighbouring PV projects in Utah contracted to provide power to Facebook from developer First Solar.

Distributed Solar Development (DSD), a business backed by BlackRock Real Assets’ Global Renewable Power platform and GE Renewable Energy, has closed on a US$250 million fund financed by Morgan Stanley, Silicon Valley Bank and Fifth Third Bank that will be utilised to fund a portfolio of distributed generation projects through 2020.

Western Canada's largest and first utility-scale solar project could soon get a whole lot bigger.

Residents who get their electricity from Fayetteville Public Works will be able to benefit from solar energy without having to put panels on their homes.

D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI) announced it has acquired First Solar’s Cove Mountain and Cove Mountain 2 projects in Iron County, Utah. The acquisition of the two projects, the sales of which were previously disclosed by First Solar and which total 180 MWAC in capacity, nearly doubles DESRI’s portfolio of First Solar-developed projects to over 360 MWAC.

Horne Brothers Construction (HBC) has completed the civil and mechanical construction on a 1-MW community solar project in North Carolina for municipal utility Fayetteville Public Works Commission (PWC). Other local partners on the project include the NC State Clean Energy Technology Center, Dewberry and Directional Services.

Deals for utility-scale solar installations are accelerating on tribal lands in the Southwest U.S., according to a report published by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

The Italian fossil fuel company is not hanging around when it comes to diversifying into PV, with almost 1.5 GW of generation capacity plugged in since the start of last year.

The nation’s Central Procurement Board, on behalf of utility NamPower, has announced a tender to select an engineering, procurement and construction services contractor.