SMA Solar Technology AG shipped more than 1 GW of solar inverters for large-scale PV projects to India in 2016

SMA Solar Technology AG (SMA, Niestetal, Germany) shipped more than 1 gigawatt (GW) of solar inverters for large-scale PV projects to India in 2016, the company announced on January 23^rd, 2017.

With a total market size of 3.9 GW according to SMA estimates, this corresponds to a market share of 26%.

SMA opened its sales and service subsidiary in India in 2010 offering a full portfolio of inverters and communication products for photovoltaic installations of all sizes as well as innovative energy management systems and service.

“SMA has nearly doubled its total installed inverter base in India in 2016 alone. Among other projects, our central inverters have been used to build the largest solar power plant in India to date,” said John Susa, SMA Executive Vice President Sales Asia Pacific.

Numerous PV projects have been launched in India in recent years using SMA inverter technology. In addition to grid-tied PV plants of every size, the stand-alone and PV-diesel-hybrid solutions developed by SMA play an important role in providing electricity to remote areas without access to the power distribution grid as well as to industrial enterprises in areas with a weak electricity supply. 

 source:http://www.solarserver.com

Perovskite thin film tandem solar cell patent granted to Solar-Tectic by the U.S. patent office

Solar-Tectic LLC (ST, Briarcliff Manor, NY, U.S.) on January 19^th, 2017 announced that a patent application for a germanium perovskite thin film tandem solar cell has been allowed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Recently perovskite materials have gained much attention as a solution to the longstanding problem of solar cell efficiency, and while there have been reports of perovskite/germanium tandem solar cells, remarkably there have been none on perovskite/crystalline germanium thin-film tandem solar cells, the company notes.

Crystalline thin-film germanium promises to be more efficient and less expensive than silicon and germanium wafer technology due to low temperature processing and less material use.

Importantly, the entire process is non-toxic since germanium is non-toxic and tin (Sn) is used to deposit the crystalline germanium thin-film material for the bottom layer in the tandem configuration; there is no toxic lead (Pb). The technology is the very first of its kind and in addition to the U.S. is also eligible for world-wide protection, Solar-Tectic emphasizes. 

source: http://www.solarserver.com

United PV issues USD 250 million senior notes

 

United Photovoltaics Group Limited (United PV, Hong Kong, China), a pure play solar photovoltaic (PV) plant investor and operator, announced that the company on January 18^th, 2017 successfully completed the issue of three-year USD 250 million senior notes.

The Group intends to use net proceeds of the notes for repaying part of the outstanding amounts under convertible bonds in order to continuously optimize the existing debt structure, reads the press release.

The notes’ initial purchasers are all large international institutional investors, which indicates the international capital market’s affirmation and confidence on PV’s future development, the company emphasizes.

Despite the market volatility brought by disadvantageous news such as the U.S. general election and the Federal Reserve’s potential raise of interest rates, the Company received great recognition and support from a number of international large investors, with order amount over USD 600 million.

The Company has appointed Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch International as the joint global coordinators. Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch International, Nomura, China Merchants Securities (HK) and CITIC CLSA Securities are the joint lead managers and joint bookrunners in respect of the offer and sale of the notes. 

source: http://www.solarserver.com

PV production technology: Meyer Burger announces orders totaling about CHF 19 million

 

Meyer Burger Technology Ltd (Thun, Switzerland) on January 23^rd, 2017 announced that it concluded further contracts amounting to a combined contract volume of about CHF 19 million with three customers in Asia.

The solar PV equipment ordered includes the delivery, installation and commissioning of the MAiA 2.1 system platform with the mass production scalable MB PERC technology, SiNA cell coating equipment for the manufacture of high quality solar cells and DW 288 Series 3 diamond wire cutting technology for the production of solar wafers for high performance cells.

The delivery and commissioning of the equipment is scheduled to start in the second quarter 2017.

 source:http://www.solarserver.com

ACCIONA covers Google’s electricity consumption in Chile with solar power from the El Romero PV plant

ACCIONA Energía (Sarriguren, Spain) now covers all the electricity consumption of Google’s 

installations in Chile under a long-term supply contract signed by the two companies, with energy generated in its El Romero Solar photovoltaic (PV) plant.

This helps to achieve Google’s objective of supplying all its operations worldwide with 100% renewable energy by 2017.

Up to 80 MW of solar power per annum

ACCIONA’s solar power supplies to Google in Chile will continue until 2030, with an option for a five-year extension at the client’s discretion.

The contract covers the supply of up to 80 MW of solar power per annum through Chile’s main power grid, the Central Interconnected System (SIC), to which the photovoltaic plant and Google’s data center in Quilicura are both connected.

It is one of the 13 Google’s data centers worldwide and the only one located in the Southern hemisphere.

“We are proud to supply renewable energy to such an important customer as Google, a company strongly committed to renewables. And to do it from this plant, the biggest photovoltaic installation in Latin America and a key reference within the sector,” says ACCIONA Energía Chile CEO José Ignacio Escobar.

246 MW PV plant expected to produce 493 GWh of solar power annually

El Romero Solar is located in Vallenar in the Atacama Desert (around 645 kilometers north of Santiago), one of the areas of the world with the highest solar radiation. It gradually entered service towards the end of 2016 and is now in commercial operation after a record-breaking 13 months' construction period.

With a maximum capacity of 246 MW (196 MW rated power), the plant consists of 776,000 PV modules with a solar capture area of more than 1.5 million m².

The biggest photovoltaic plant built, owned and operated by ACCIONA to date represented an investment of around 343 million US dollars (314 million euros at current exchange rates).

Its average annual solar power production is estimated at 493 GWh, equivalent to the electricity demand of 240,000 Chilean homes.

 source:http://www.solarserver.com