Markets

A draft version of phase two of India’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) has been released, targeting 9 GW of grid connected solar by 2017. The draft proposes reverse auctioning 1.65 GW of photovoltaic projects by April 1, 2013 and 870 MW in 2014.

ABB South Africa has won a turnkey contract for two photovoltaic plants in Limpopo Province at a cost of $225 million.

The solar plant in Kazakhstan will start operation this year. German company Deger has been selected to deliver the tracking solutions. Bisol Group is responsible for the planning, construction and installation of the national energy provider Samruk-Energo funded project.

As New Jersey struggles to rebuild after the Frankenstorm that hit America’s East Coast during early November, a key part of the comeback plan for many home owners and housing developments will be installing back-up solar generation, either grid-tied or off-grid, which can provide power during future major outages. That means California had better look to its laurels as the number-one state in 2Q 2012 in terms of installed solar capacity, with a current total of 217 MW.

Solea Renewables has completed and commissioned a 1 MW ground-mounted diesel/photovoltaic hybrid electric power plant for industrial mining applications in South Africa.

The Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) and the Centre for Emerging Markets Solutions (CEMS) at the Indian School of Business (ISB) have released findings from two studies that show high interest rates and relatively short term loans make renewable energy projects in India more expensive than in the U.S. and Europe.

Centrosolar has completed a 130 kWp PV rooftop system using in-roof panels in a workers’ housing cooperative in Schaffhausen. Over 600 Centrosolar panels were used on a total of 52 roofs.

SolarWorld has a new sales office in Japan, marking the expansion of the company into the growing solar market.

Avelar Solar Technology, a subsidiary of the Swiss Avelar Energy Group, plans to establish a solar power plant in the Russian Orenburg region with the capacity of 25 MW, according to the company, which has already signed an investment agreement with the Ministry of Economic Development, Industrial Policy and Trade of the Orenburg region.

A new website has been launched providing a unique insight into Germany’s transition from thermal electricity generation to renewables. German Energy Transition provides the first “one stop shop” providing the facts behind and vision towards German’s world-leading energy revolution.