Latest Solar power and photovoltaics News

SolarWorld invests in Qatar Solar Technologies

Qatar is one of the world’s largest supplier countries for natural gas that has so far been securing its power supply on the basis of natural gas. SolarWorld is acquiring a 29 percent stake in the newly founded Joint Venture Qatar Solar Technologies headquartered in the Emirate of Qatar. The joint venture will establish the first production facility for polysilicon on the Arabian Peninsula. Partners are the Qatar Foundation (70 percent) and t... [more]

23000 Suntech solar modules to be mounted on Sunset Reservoir in San Francisco

SunLink® Corporation has announced that its roof module mounting solution has begun shipping for a five megawatt project located on the Sunset Reservoir in San Francisco, California - one of the nation’s largest municipal solar installation. Chosen by Recurrent Energy, an independent power producer and a leading developer of solar power projects, SunLink’s solution will be used to mount over 23,000 Suntech solar modules on the flat, seismically r... [more]

Bergamo Acquisition announces new solar power project in Lebanon

Bergamo Acquisition Corp. has announced a new solar power project for the Republic of Lebanon. The total cost for the project will be USD $500 Million. This week Bergamo key management will travel to Lebanon to conclude the Letter of Intent with the Government of Lebanon. Attending this meeting on March 11, 2010 for Bergamo will be Salim Chamdia and Haseeb Fatani, both Vice Presidents of Bergamo E & A. Attending the meeting for Bergamo subsid... [more]

Eco hotel on Jekyll Island preserves the natural environment of the island

The 138-room Hampton Inn & Suites Jekyll Island opened in January 2010, the first new hotel to be built on the island in 35 years. New Castle Hotels & Resorts and co-developers Jekyll Ocean Oaks, LLC followed an extensive set of guidelines, adopted by the Jekyll Island Authority, that require development respect and preserve the unique natural environment and historic character of the island. Developers applied a range of conservation pra... [more]

Good Energies invests in solar micro-inverter manufacturer Enecsys

Enecsys Limited, a manufacturer of solar photovoltaic (PV) micro-inverters, has announced it has attracted further investment of £2.5 million ($4.2 million) from Good Energies. This new investment adds to the £6M ($10 million) received from Wellington Partners and BankInvest in June 2009 for a total investment of £8.5 million ($14.3 million) in Enecsys. "Good Energies invests in companies that significantly accelerate the clean-energy transit... [more]

Other Solar power and photovoltaics news and reviews

Energy saving begins at home: a Renewable Energy Specialist installs a double dose of solar power at his own house (Renewable Energy World)
It's no surprise that professionals working in any renewable energy field are aware of the practical, carbon-saving benefits of installing solar energy in their own homes. For Tony Almond, boss of Planet Energy Solutions, that meant a double dose of solar power – with both solar photovoltaics and solar thermal panels installed at his property in Welwyn, Hertfordshire (UK).

University of Toledo fights to outpace solar power rivals (The Toledo Blade)
By JOE VARDON BLADE PROJECTS EDITOR Last of three parts The research in solar energy and specifically thin-film photovoltaics at the University of Toledo is a sense of pride on campus, a selling point for state officials to solar companies, and is recognized by many solar-industry insiders throughout the country. “The University of Toledo pops up even on my radar screen, and I don't have any ...

Sunshine is free, so can photovoltaics be cheap? (Scientific American)
Here's how to make a solar cell from silicon : take one solid block of doped silicon, saw it into thin wafers, layer said semiconductors beneath a panel of transparent glass, connect them to a metal electrode that can channel away the electrons knocked loose by incoming photons and turn it into a photovoltaic device. That process has at least two flaws: such silicon is very expensive, as much as ...

Southern California Edison Orders 200 Megawatts of SunPower Panels for Large Utility Solar Project (Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance)
ROSEMEAD, Calif.----Southern California Edison , an Edison International company , and SunPower Corp. announced today that SunPower has won a contract to provide solar technology for generating up to 200 megawatts, or 80 percent, of the solar power capacity needed for the utility’s large solar photovoltaic installation program.

Squeezing Solar Power From Nanowires (Discovery Channel)
Efficient silicon photovoltaics hold so much potential but scaling them up would involve outlandish costs. Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory developed a new approach that could pare down the price. Usually solar cells are made from ultrapure single ...

Governor Ted Strickland upbeat on solar job growth (The Toledo Blade)
By JOE VARDON BLADE PROJECTS EDITOR Second of three parts COLUMBUS - Lisa Patt-McDaniel hopped onto a plane headed for Anaheim, Calif., in October for the Solar Power International Conference. As the director of Ohio's Department of Development, Ms. Patt-McDaniel said she used the trip to speak with about 20 solar energy company executives and attempted to persuade them to make their products in ...

University of Toledo fights to outpace solar power rivals (The Toledo Blade)
By JOE VARDON BLADE PROJECTS EDITOR

EVSO: New Report Outlines Bold Vision for Solar in the US (Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance)
THE WOODLANDS, Texas----Management of Evolution Solar Corp. stated that they were very pleased with a new report from Environment America that outlines a vision for using the sun to meet 10 percent of the United States’ energy needs by 2030.

Surpisingly Modest Solar Growth Is Predicted (IEEE Spectrum)
Lux's projection of solar growth rates in the range of 20-25 percent suggests a conclusion by the firm that the boom peaked the year before last.

Solar Industry To Hit US $77B in 2015 (Renewable Energy World)
As the books close on what was a turbulent 2009 for the solar industry, Lux Research said that the solar market will soon see the lopsided supply and demand that characterized much of the last year return to equilibrium. According to the new report Solar's Shakeout: Europe Loses Leadership as China Rises," strong demand growth in Asia and the U.S. will push the market to 9.3 GW in 2010, hitting ...