Enel moves on 13 GW pipeline, flips 6 GW of solar+storage
Enel acquired developer Tradewind Energy’s 13 GW portfolio of wind and solar+storage projects in the United States, and then immediately sold the 6 GW solar+storage portion to Macquarie.
New record low solar power price? 2.175¢/kWh in Idaho
Idaho Power has agreed to pay $21.75/MWh for 120 MW of solar power in a 20-year power purchase agreement with Jackpot Holdings. The solar facility will offset a soon-to-close coal plant in Nevada starting in 2022.
High-efficiency solar module upgrades from REC and Trina
REC Group has begun production of its residential N-Peak Black series, reaching up to 325 watts. Concurrently, Trina Solar has released four new modules within its Tallmax, Duomax, Duomax Twin and Honey series — some of which reach up to 415 watts.
$200 million fund seeks C&I and small scale utility solar projects
Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners has invested $200 million in a new distributed solar company — Madison Energy Investments — focused on ground-mount, rooftop and carport projects ranging from 500 kw to 20 MW.
If bifacial panels can compete on price the (backsheet) choice is clear
Jinko Solar has launched a new bifacial solar module, with a clear backsheet manufactured by DuPont, to compete with standard glass-on-glass bifacial products, as well to create markets where bifacial might not have previously fit.
Enphase is making money again
The California-based microinverter maker posted $92 million in revenue in the final quarter of last year, and more than $106 million in cash as the company reported its first positive quarterly and annual operating income figures in years. Enphase is booked out for all of this quarter and seemingly into the late spring months too.
US utility surprised by solar connection requests ‘which have not followed linear rise since 2008’
Clearly surprised by the explosion in popularity of PV in the last two years, Michigan’s Consumers Energy has asked for time to process outstanding interconnection requests which could not ‘have been predicted by the company in earlier years’.
Efficiency record isn’t the biggest change for Alta Devices’ GaAS solar technology
Alta Devices’ gallium arsenide solar research cells have been certified with a 29.1% efficiency, setting a new single junction solar cell efficiency record. The most significant change, however, isn’t actually the efficiency; it is that the weight fell 30%, and from the words of Alta Devices, its process has lowered material costs to “essentially nothing”.
A new solar powered #2 rises, and it looks to keep growing
Con Edison states that it has become the number two solar power generator in North America with the finalization of its Sempra purchase which included 980 MWac of operating solar.
First Solar sees a doubling coming in 2019
The thin film PV maker projects 5.4 to 5.6 GW of module shipments next year, more than double its current projected 2018 volumes of 2.6 to 2.7 GW.
