The Rise & Shine is your daily source for all solar-industry news. Brought to you by Sweet Solar Home and the Experts at SunRun.
CALIFORNIA NEWS
Enphase Energy Selects Flextronics as its Global Manufacturing Partner
This partnership enables Enphase to quickly and reliably scale to meet the growing demand for its products and expands Flextronics’ reach into the quickly growing solar balance-of-systems market.
Metropolitan Water District Solar Plant Begins Operation
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has activated a 10-acre solar plant at its Robert A. Skinner Water Treatment Plant in the Temecula Valley of southwestern Riverside County.
San Diego’s Plans for Federal Energy Stimulus Money Questioned
People in San Diego’s green industry like Dan Sullivan who owns a solar company say the city should be more ambitious. It should create a plan to cover every home and business with solar panels.
2 Arrested for Allegedly Trying to Steal Solar Panels in Torrance
The men apparently had pried the panels loose and had them stacked on top of the building when police arrived. Officials suspect the men were going to recycle the materials for a profit.
SPG Solar Names Thomas S. Rooney Jr. as Chief Executive Officer
Company Gears-up for Rapid Growth and Expansion.
Family Reaping Benefit of Solar Panels
The Hoffs were concerned about the solar panels’ impact on the aesthetics of their carefully crafted home. They spent a lot of time, money and energy building a home that blended into the Norman Rockwell neighborhood.
NATIONAL NEWS
GT Solar Commissions First Greek Integrated Solar Wafer and Cell Turnkey Solution
With the commissioning of this turnkey solution, Solar Cells Hellas becomes the first PV manufacturer in Greece.
150 Solar Startups: The Sequel
Would you believe 200 solar startups? What about 217? Senior Analyst Eric Wesoff’s update to our 150 Solar Startups list sees the field expanding quickly.
Are First Solar’s Glory Days Behind It?
No longer is the commoditization of polysilicon just a vague threat lurking in First Solar’s distant future – it’s getting much closer to being real.
New Jersey Considers Additional Solar Rebate for “Made in NJ” Panels and Inverters
The New Jersey Renewable Energy Manufacturing Incentive offers consumers and businesses that purchase solar panels and inverters that are, at least in part, manufactured in New Jersey a rebate of up to $0.25 per watt for panels, and up to $0.15 cents per watt for inverters.
Sempra Thinking Big on Solar: Nevada’s Thin Film Power Plant Could Expand to 58MW
By late 2010, Nevada’s 10 MW thin-film solar PV installation could have become the largest PV plant in the United States.
Orlando Green Cities Conference Powered by the Sun
Capable of generating one million watts of electricity, the largest solar photovoltaic system of its kind in the southeastern United States was inaugurated on Wednesday at the opening session of the Green Cities Florida 2009 conference.
Hemlock Semiconductor Group Brings New Polysilicon Capacity Online for Solar and Semiconductor Industries
This new capacity, which has been brought online several months ahead of schedule, represents the completion of the first phase of the $1 billion expansion the Michigan site announced in May of 2007.
Applied Solar Seeks Bankruptcy Protection
As a condition to the loan, the company is required to file for reorganization pursuant to Title 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code within 30 days following the date of the loan.
SolarEdge Snags BP Solar Deal
BP Solar plans to develop modules embedded with its electronics.
Solar Power
Now solar advocates say the right legislation could do the wind industry’s success one better.
FINANCIAL NEWS & MARKETS
Tigo Raises $10M for Solar Module Efficiency
But a Tigo-enabled system can maintain the maximum power output of the system more effectively, and account for the weak link.
TECHNOLOGY
Solar Trackers: Facing the Sun
Tracking systems that adjust the position of PV modules to follow the sun can boost yields from solar installations by 40% or more. What is available and who is building them?
Could Solar Thermal Power Supply 25% of the World’s Needs by 2050?
A report by Greenpeace and two solar thermal industry groups say yes, but major hurdles – money and policies – stand in the way of it becoming a reality.
HaWi Field Trial Shows SolarMagic Recoups Over 54% of Lost Energy in Solar Arrays
SolarMagic Power Optimizers Boost Solar Performance at HaWi Energietechnik AG.
Ascent Solar to Help Power Unmanned Aircraft
Bye Aerospace plans to incorporate Ascent’s panels into its first design, an unmanned hybrid aircraft called the Silent Sentinel.
Cyrium Technologies Helps Move Cost of Solar Energy Toward Grid Parity
Cyrium Technologies has announced that multi-junction solar cells produced by the company now exceed the performance of all commercially manufactured solar cells.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Phoenix Solar Starts Construction on Three Solar Parks
The financing of the first two power plants has been secured through Sparkasse Fürstenfeldbruck, and the solar plant in Malching will be financed by a major German bank.
Helios Technology Reaches 60MW Cell Capacity
The expansion was achieved when a second 30 MWp line, part of the one already installed last year, came up to speed.
LDK Solar Partners With ESPE on Italian PV Projects
Construction has commenced on the first of five plants totaling 5 MW.
Air Liquide Supplies Gases to Five Solar Cell Manufacturers
Since the start of the year, Air Liquide has signed several new gas supplies contracts with solar cell manufacturers in 5 countries and will invest globally €13 million to meet the needs of those customers.
Sinosol Signs Up 35MW of Thin Film Supply
The defined quantity of 34 MWp is for both companies the largest contract for the supply of amorphous thin-film modules to date.
Could Ontario Be the Next Germany?
The introduction of Ontario’s Green Energy Act, modeled after Germany’s successful feed-in tariff approach, is expected to fuel rapid growth of the clean energy market in the province.
China Faith in Solar Power with Huge Renewable Energy Investment
China is to throw its economic might behind a national solar power plan that could result in it becoming one of the world’s biggest harvesters of the sun’s energy.
