Markets

Greece’s Energy Minister has been reported by Bloomberg as saying that he expects agreement on the massive ten-gigawatt (GW) photovoltaic “Project Helios” by the end of the year. The project would require an investment of some USD$27 billion.

A one-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic project has been dedicated at the Hickory Ridge landfill site near the U.S. city of Atlanta. While small compared to many photovoltaic power plants, Republic Services, Inc. still claims it is one of the state of Georgia’s largest.

German solar power plant company, Solar Millennium AG is set to sell its pipeline worth 2.25 gigawatts (GW) to turnkey developer solarhybrid. The conditional agreement of the sale was announced today.

Continual rain only “whetted” the competitive appetite of the 4,000 students from 19 colleges across four continents who participated in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011 in Washington, D.C., from September 23 through October 2.

Vertically integrated solar manufacturer Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) has had its restart plants held back by power outages. REC Silicon’s Moses Lake, Washington, was affected.

Germany-based photovoltaic integrator Phoenix Solar has announced that it has the go ahead to begin construction of a 50 megawatt (MW) photovoltaic plant in Bulgaria.

On the final closing of a Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee for the project, SunPower will sell to NRG Energy the California Solar Ranch. Construction on the project began last month and is expected to be completed in two years.

Speaking after PV Taiwan’s pre-show press conference, Sam Hong, Taiwan Photovoltaic Industry Association chairman and Neo Solar’s president and COO told pv magazine that a photovoltaic technology war is starting. And, while the rain may be coming down in Taipei, solar prospects in Taiwan are bright, according to many of the industry’s leaders.

The off-grid market is also currently profiting from the declining module and system prices in the ongrid segment. Yet in many developing countries, particularly in southern Africa, both the industry and policy makers are challenged to make photovoltaic technology more attractive and to develop transparent markets. This was an important message sent out by an off-grid workshop to which the wholesale dealer Phaesun extended invitations on the occasion of its tenth corporate anniversary on the weekend.

Thin film solar technology is confirming its place as a booming market, with new figures suggesting that it will grow to make $44 billion worldwide by 2017.