[amor de cosmos]

First Solar Sets New Solar Efficiency Record for Thin Film
February 27, 2013

Solar innovator First Solar has just announced a new word record for solar cell conversion efficiency, for its cadmium-telluride (CdTe) thin film solar cell. That’s significant because CdTe solar cells can be made more quickly and cheaply than conventional silicon solar cells, bringing down the cost of solar power. The title of solar efficiency record holder is also significant politically because it was only last spring that First Solar was caught in the crosshairs, when certain members of Congress tried to manufacture scandals out of the Obama Administration’s support for the U.S. solar industry.

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/27/...ciency-record/

Canadian Solar supplies more modules for off-grid PV projects in Tanzania
By Julia Chan - 27 February 2013, 14:54
In News, Power Generation, Project Focus



Under the agreement, Canadian Solar will deliver an additional 85kW of modules to Zara Solar for off-grid PV projects in Tanzania. Including this latest order, Canadian Solar will have supplied more than 350kW of PV modules to Zara Solar.

The modules vary in size, from 15 watts to 90 watts, and are ideal for off-grid projects as well as for the local environmental conditions in Tanzania, Canadian Solar states.

http://www.pv-tech.org/news/canadian...ts_in_tanzania

Activ Solar completes 29.3 MW PV plant in Ukraine
27. February 2013 | Applications & Installations, Industry & Suppliers | By: Becky Beetz

Activ Solar has commissioned a 29.3 MW photovoltaic plant in the Mykolaiv region of southern Ukraine.

Overall, the Voznesensk Solar Power Station is comprised of 121,176 multicrystalline photovoltaic modules and 27 inverter stations. According to local content requirements, over 15% of the materials, equipment and technologies used came from the Ukraine.

Austria-based Activ Solar has installed over 200 MW of photovoltaics in the country to date, including in the Odessa and Crimea regions. This latest project is the company’s first in Mykolaiv.

http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/deta...ine_100010360/

PV Expo Tokyo: Solar spring continues
27. February 2013 | Top News, Industry & Suppliers, Markets & Trends | By: Hans-Christoph Neidlein

The sixth PV Expo Tokyo kicked off today, February 26, with optimism. The world’s most generous photovoltaic FITs, coupled with a high environmental awareness, continue to lure many international solar companies to Japan. Insiders at the event expect new photovoltaic installations to top three to four GW this year.

Most obvious on the first day of Japan’s largest solar tradeshow is the growing presence of Chinese photovoltaic module manufacturers and project developers. All of the usual Chinese tier 1 suspects, including Suntech, Yingli, Canadian Solar and Trina, are in attendance. Dozens of tier 2 and 3 manufacturers, like Phono Solar, China Sunergy and Wuxi SaijingSolar, are also present.

According to Kuniko Misawa, general manager marketing division at Suntech Japan, Suntech is expecting to increase its Japanese market share from 8% in 2012 to 10% this year. Meanwhile, Julian Itagaki from Yingli Japan’s marketing division, states, "With the growing business in Japan, and in emerging markets like Latin America and Africa, we are trying to absorb declines in Europe and the U.S."

http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/deta...ues_100010367/

Japanese total shipments reach 2.5GW
By Nilima Choudhury - 27 February 2013, 13:36
In News, Cell Processing, PV Modules, Power Generation

Over 2.5GW of PV cells and modules were shipped both within Japan and overseas in the first nine months of fiscal year 2012.

Domestic shipments have more than doubled with 445MW in the first quarter of 2012 and over 1GW in the third quarter. According to the Japan Photovoltaic Energy Association (JPEA), approximately 1,399MW of this total came from Japanese producers, while the remaining 676MW was imported.

http://www.pv-tech.org/news/japanese...ts_reach_2.5gw

Solar Power Feed-In Tariff For Poland In March?
February 26, 2013 in Solar Policy

Poland is about ready to put into place a solar feed-in tariff policy similar to that used to propel solar power growth in Germany, the Czech Republic, Spain, Italy, Japan, and other leading solar power countries. I recently gave a guest lecture to a group of renewable energy graduate students here in Poland and happened to talk with one of the people who has helped create the policy (one of the group’s professors). He mentioned that it would be similar to Germany’s solar feed-in tariff (at least when it comes to the technical matters he was working on), but would of course be slightly different.

Word on the street is that the law may be passed in March. However, even if so, it wouldn’t go into effect until mid-2014 sometime due to the European Commission notification process (which seems a little absurd to me, but I’m not familiar with the details here).

http://solarlove.org/solar-power-fee...land-in-march/

Solar Business News: Renusol America Adds Midwest Distributors
February 26, 2013 Kathleen Zipp : 0 Comments

Renusol America has added two distribution partners, Wholesale Solar, based in Northern California, and Werner Electric Supply, which has 11 locations in Wisconsin and across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

“Renusol mounting solutions are now in place in solar projects in 30 states across the US,” stated Renusol CEO and President, Bart Leusink. “Werner Electric Supply and Wholesale Solar are well-known for their high levels of customer service and having them as distribution partners means that even more installers can take advantage of simpler, more cost-effective mounting solutions for their solar projects.”

The Renusol VS is a flexible and light on-roof system for easy installation of photovoltaic systems for pitched roofs. Pre-assembled clamps, fastener-free splice connectors, and slide-free L-feet minimize installation time. Stainless steel hardware and aluminum rails provide strength and long life along with high strength-to-weight ratio rail design with spans up to 12 feet that keeps cost low This system offers a “one-size-fits-all” mounting solution, easy inventory maintenance and simple installation.

http://www.solarpowerworldonline.com...-distributors/

UConn Professor’s Patented Technique Key to New Solar Power Technology
February 4, 2013
By: Colin Poitras
Category: Science & Health
(2) Comments

A novel fabrication technique developed by UConn engineering professor Brian Willis could provide the breakthrough technology scientists have been looking for to vastly improve today’s solar energy systems.

For years, scientists have studied the potential benefits of a new branch of solar energy technology that relies on incredibly small nanosized antenna arrays that are theoretically capable of harvesting more than 70 percent of the sun’s electromagnetic radiation and simultaneously converting it into usable electric power.

The technology would be a vast improvement over the silicon solar panels in widespread use today. Even the best silicon panels collect only about 20 percent of available solar radiation, and separate mechanisms are needed to convert the stored energy to usable electricity for the commercial power grid. The panels’ limited efficiency and expensive development costs have been two of the biggest barriers to the widespread adoption of solar power as a practical replacement for traditional fossil fuels.

But while nanosized antennas have shown promise in theory, scientists have lacked the technology required to construct and test them. The fabrication process is immensely challenging. The nano-antennas – known as “rectennas” because of their ability to both absorb and rectify solar energy from alternating current to direct current – must be capable of operating at the speed of visible light and be built in such a way that their core pair of electrodes is a mere 1 or 2 nanometers apart, a distance of approximately one millionth of a millimeter, or 30,000 times smaller than the diameter of human hair.

http://today.uconn.edu/blog/2013/02/...er-technology/