Solar Plants News

Lightsource BP breaks ground on 70MW Pennsylvania trio
Lightsource BP has started construction of a 70MW trio of Pennsylvanian solar projects that will provide power to Penn State University.
Sep 9, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, USA, pv power plants, utility-scale PV, Lightsource BP, Pennsylvania, North America, penn state university
Industry: Italian solar comeback needs market redesign, not subsidies
Subsidies are not the answer for Italy to revive its solar industry from the deadlock brought about by the scrapping of feed-in tariffs (FiT), operators have warned at an industry event.
Sep 9, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Tariffs, Italy, PPA, pv power plants, solar pv, Europe, subsidy-free pv, feed-in tariff, Paolo Rocco Viscontini
UNEP: Solar the star of a decade of ‘incredible’ renewables momentum
Solar PV has seen a “meteoric rise” over the past decade, with more capacity installed than any other power source, according to a new report by BloombergNEF and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Sep 9, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Markets & Finance News, Germany, UK, China, Europe, Asia, bloomberg nef, unep, solar finance, development finance, reports, Inger Anderson
Nigeria powers up Africa’s ‘largest off-grid solar hybrid’
The latest project to be switched on in Nigeria’s solar electrification programme for universities is also thought to be the largest ‘hybrid’ plant of its kind on the African continent so far, inaugurated this week at Bayero University Kano (BUK).
Sep 8, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Grids, solar pv, off-grid solar, Africa, microgrid, Nigeria, off-grid pv, renewable integration, rural electrification
STI Norland expects 1.2GW of contracted mounting systems orders in 2019
Mounting systems specialist STI Norland said it had surpassed 3GW of cumulative installations with 1.2GW of contracted mounting systems orders expected in 2019.
Sep 8, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Japan, Spain, France, India, pv power plants, Europe, Asia, Mexico, North America, sti norland, pv trackers, pv mounting systems
High power prices, falling PV costs and new regulations behind Brazil’s solar carnival
The nation’s thriving distributed generation market is flying, as was evident at last week’s Intersolar South America trade show. The sector seems unconcerned by mooted changes to net metering incentives in the new year and when even an environmental non-believer like President Bolsonaro is on side, it is difficult to be pessimistic.
Sep 8, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Inverters, Solar, USA, Sungrow, Canadian Solar, China, South america, Latin america, Europe, Brazil, Asia, Fronius, Greener, North America, Intersolar South America, Solar Promotion, Florian Wessendorf, utility scale solar, Marcelo Sousa, Ada Li, Thais Zampieri Bitancourt, Julian Rau, Trina, Álvaro García Maltrás, Apollo Chai, Rodolfo Meyer, Portal Solar, Marcio Takata, Lucas Troia
Panda Green accepts $22.5m hit on sale of 540 MW of solar projects
The heavily indebted developer has cashed in two eight-project portfolios for an immediate $28 million windfall but accepted the sales recognize heavy losses as it continues to try and pay down debt.
Sep 8, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Markets & Finance News, China, Asia, Panda Green, Shanxi Silu Electricity Engineering Co Ltd, Changzhou Zhaolian Lvchang New Energy Ltd
Solar-plus-storage vs grid enhancement
Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator will implement a pilot project for a future electricity market based on PV, storage and smart power consumption. The utility says the project will be a cheaper, more efficient alternative to expanding grid infrastructure.
Sep 8, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, IESO, Alectra Utilities, Natural Resources Canada, Terry Young
Comtec ready to swim against the tide by outsourcing manufacturing
While the rest of China’s solar manufacturers take on ever more debt to expand their production lines as fast as possible, Comtec said it is ready to sell off fabs for the right money and will instead focus on project sales and lithium battery and EV business opportunities.
Sep 6, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Markets & Finance News, China, Asia, Comtec, John Yi Zhang
Jordan launches tender for utility scale solar at Azraq refugee camp
When built, the 5 MW solar park will supplement two other megawatt scale plants powering the camp. The project is expected to be developed with the support of the Spanish government.
Sep 6, 2019 // Plants, Spain, tender, Europe, MEMR, Azraq, Dave Mozersky
France added just 397 MW of solar in six months
At the end of June, France’s installed PV capacity topped 9.3 GW for a 4% increase on the figure recorded at the end of December. Only 397 MW of new capacity was put into operation, however, a much lower figure than the 490 MW deployed in the same period of 2018. Why?
Sep 6, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, France, Europe, CRE, David Callegari
China’s aluminum smelters alone could shift 2.3% of daily electricity demand
German energy agency Dena has found China’s smelter fleet could shift 432.5 GWh of daily demand to more amenable hours to tally with renewables generation. To make it happen though, the regulator needs to lay down rules for providing incentives.
Sep 5, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Germany, China, Europe, Asia, Dena, flexible
Ameren puts forward plans for 30MW of solar-plus-storage in rural Missouri
Utility Ameren Missouri is planning three grid-scale solar facilities with energy storage, marking what is claimed will be the first ever instance of an energy company in the US Mid-West state powering its customers’ homes with batteries.
Sep 5, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Storage, USA, pv power plants, solar pv, solar-plus-storage, BESS, North America, Missouri, ameren, battery energy storage systems
Polish solar goes big with 1.1GW dual announcement
Poland’s still-nascent solar market could witness a colossal boost in the future if two schemes unveiled this week succeed in reaching the finish line.
Sep 5, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Poland, utility-scale PV, Europe, eastern europe, mining, miner, large-scale pv, solar mines
Iberdrola in fresh PV play with 250MW submitted for approval in central Spain
Spanish developer and utility Iberdrola is waiting for project approval from the Castilla-La Mancha government to move ahead with four utility-scale solar PV facilities in the central Spanish region.
Sep 5, 2019 // Plants, Large-Scale, Commercial, Spain, Portugal, Iberdrola, solar pv, bifacial, Inverters, Europe, solar-plus-storage, daisy-chain inverter