China’s solar retrenchment has taken a big step forward with word that a bankruptcy court has chosen Hong Kong-listed Shunfeng Photovoltaic from a field of bidders vying to invest in reorganizing former solar pioneer Suntech. The decision is interesting both because of who the bankruptcy court selected, and also because of who lost the bidding. The selection of Shunfeng looks particularly significant, as it ...

Tata Power Solar (TPS), a leading Indian Solar company, has successfully commissioned a 10 MW solar power plant for Jindal Aluminium Ltd (JAL) in Chitradurga, Karnataka in June 2013. Executed in a record timeframe of four months from the day the land was made available, the solar power plant is Karnataka's largest till date. The plant will produce over 18 million KWH annually (over 1.80 crore units) of sola ...

A group of researchers in Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has uncovered the working of perovskite, a material that may be the answer to cheaper and more efficient solar energy panels. Perovskite has been described as a remarkable solar cell material as it can convert up to 15 per cent of sunlight into electricity, coming close to the efficiency of nearly 20 per cent of solar cells in the market. Howe ...

As China’s solar panel makers venture into uncharted markets, the handful of companies that supply equipment for their plants are dusting off their order books to meet a revival in demand. GT Advanced Technologies and Meyer Burger Technology expect a new wave of orders from next year, when worldwide spending by solar companies is forecast to rise for the first time since 2011. “Demand is coming from many mo ...

Germany’s Conergy AG has increased its share of Thailand’s solar market to 20%, as the company ramps up production in the Southeast Asian country. Thailand is widely considered to be one of the strongest emerging solar markets in the world, and Conergy has proactively cornered approximately 20% of the market share, installing more than 70 MW of PV capacity since the fall of 2012. The company’s latest ventur ...

A strong showing from global solar photovoltaic (PV) installations, coupled with a sharp fall in new wind energy capacity, has led to solar power growth outpacing wind this year — for the first time ever. Analysis from Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts that 36.7 GW in new solar PV capacity will be added worldwide in 2013, compared with 35.5 GW in new wind power installations (33.8 GW onshore and 1.7 GW ...

Vikram Solar, a manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules with a 150 mega watt manufacturing capacity has commissioned a five mega watt power plant at Virudunagar, Tamil Nadu for JVS Exports under the REC (renewable energy certificate) mechanism on a turnkey basis. "This project would help in deriving substantial tax benefits and end user savings, while considerably lowering the carbon footprint," Gyanesh ...

An ‘ultra-mega’ green solar power project with a capacity of four gigawatts, making it the largest solar installation in the world, is being set up in Rajasthan, India. The project will be built on 23,000 acres of land with the phase of 1GW expected to be commissioned by the end of 2016. Once the full 4GW is fully commissioned, the government claims it will generate 6,000 million units of power per year. Th ...

The Pakistani state of Punjab has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with British company Pan Africa under which a 100 MW solar power project will be developed in Bahawalpur in eastern Punjab. The 100 MW solar power project is being developed on an emergent basis to overcome the energy crisis in the state according to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif who attended the ceremony. The MoU was signed ...

German solar energy equipment supplier SMA Solar Technology has become the first non-Japanese manufacturer to sell a three-phase inverter certified for the Japanese market. The Japan Electrical Safety & Environment Technology Laboratories (JET) has certified SMA Solar Technology’s Sunny Tripower 10000 TLEE-JP for sale on the Japanese market. The move makes SMA the first non-Japanese inverter manufacture ...