The Rise & Shine is your daily source for all solar-industry news. Brought to you by Sweet Solar Home and the Experts at SunRun.
NATIONAL NEWS
Clear Skies Signs PV System Contract With Microdyne Plastics
Clear Skies Solar announced the signing of a contract to install a $4.8 million 875 kW solar energy system on the roof of the Microdyne building in Colton, CA.
MiaSole Begins Shipping CIGS Panels
The CIGS thin-film maker has kept a low profile for most of the past year. Now it has something to brag about: customers and plans to boost production.
SunPower Completes 1MW Solar Power System at Agilent Technologies Headquarters
Santa Clara Campus Installation Features SunPower T5 Solar Roof Tile, the Solar Industry’s Most Powerful Rooftop System.
Gore: U.S. Has Lost its Lead in Solar
As American administrations have blown hot and cold, the country has lost its lead in solar energy technology and is turning to foreign manufacturers for its wind turbines, Gore said in an interview Tuesday. “China, by contrast, has a focused strategy to dominate these industries in the 21st Century.”
UTILITY INDUSTRY & REGULATORY NEWS
Making Renewables Reliable
The challenge for power management experts is how to deal with thousands of new generators, often in inconvenient places, that will not respond to electronic commands to produce more when needed. These are mostly windmills and fields of solar cells, which produce close to 20 percent of California’s electric needs.
People Power Introduces Open Source Energy Monitoring
Electricity monitoring startup People Power Co. is creating open source technology that would allow its residential customers to automatically control their electrical appliance use and monitor it in real time.
Brace Yourselves, Electricity Prices Will Rise Over Next 10-30 years, Duke CEO Jim Rogers Says
The key, he says, is how utilities, their customers and governments respond to this increase.
MARKETS & MARKET RESEARCH
Solar Power Silicon Nearing Spot Price in Five Year Contracts
Processed silicon used in solar power cells has dropped within 7 percent of the spot price in five-year contracts as production outpaces demand, according to an industry publisher.
GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
Companies Call Government Incentives the Key to Green
A carbon reduction plan, and hence the creation of markets that put a price on carbon, would have little immediate impact on solar or wind power unless the price on carbon is very high.
Department of Energy Forges Clean Energy Agreements with China
According to the Department of Energy (DOE), President Barack Obama and China’s president, Hu Jintao, have announced a package of measures designed to strengthen cooperation between the U.S. and China on clean energy.
FINANCIAL NEWS & MARKETS
SOLON SE Presents Third Quarter 2009 Results
The first nine months of the year were characterized by significantly lower demand for solar technology year on year and a sharp drop in sales prices, which persisted into the third quarter.
Solarfun Reports Third Quarter 2009 Results
Solarfun Power today reported its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2009.
China Sunergy Profit Soared on Lower Silicon Costs
China Sunergy Co., a manufacturer of solar power cells, said third-quarter profit rose as production costs dropped and margins improved. The shares gained in early New York trading.
LDK Solar Sells Stake in Chinese Plant for $219M
DK Solar Co., a Chinese maker of parts for solar cells, said it has agreed to sell a 15 percent ownership stake in a polysilicon plant in China for about $219 million.
TECHNOLOGY
Magnetek Introduces E-Force Solar Inverter
The E-Force inverter offers high power density in a compact size for application flexibility and its rugged design insures maximum reliability, the company said.
Winds of Change for Spanish PV Inverters
While the Swiss manufacturer Sputnik Engineering has mostly sold central inverters for free-standing systems to Spain in the last few years, since mid-2009 the Solar Max string inverters have become a new best-seller.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Solargiga Energy Awarded 13.5MW Pilot Project
Solargiga Energy has been granted a tender for 13.5MW photovoltaic power generation pilot project under the “Golden Sun programs to be implemented by the Chinese government.
DuPont Apollo Opens Thin Film PV Production Facility
The 538,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility will have an annual capacity of up to 50 MW with a thin-film-on-glass PV module production line. Full-scale commercial production at the facility is targeted for the first quarter 2010.
GCL-Poly Energy and China Investment Corporation Enter into a Framework Agreement
GCL-Poly Energy has entered into a binding framework agreement with China Investment Corporation, pursuant to which CIC will subscribe for an aggregate of 3,108 million new shares at the subscription price of HK$1.79 per share.
India Targets 1,000MW Solar Power in 2013
The US and other advanced countries may be dithering in the fight against climate change but India is ready to launch its Solar mission under the National Action Plan on Climate Change, with plans to generate 1,000 mw of power by 2013.
Phoenix Solar Eyes Partner in China
Phoenix Solar AG, one of Europe’s largest solar power developers, is in talks to partner with a Chinese firm to push its business in China, said a company executive.
