Market & Trends

Australian solar installers are reporting high levels of inquiries as the axe hovers over the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) – which subsidizes rooftop PV. The SRES looks likely to be scrapped or wound up early, although the final decision from the government has not yet been handed down.

Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) has inaugurated Australia’s largest operating solar farm, the 24 MW Royall Solar Farm, 23 kilometers (14 miles) outside of the country’s capital city of Canberra. While there are larger PV power plants under construction, at present it is largest operating solar farm Down Under.

Bear Republic Brewing, a Northern California beer brewery known for its leading approach to sustainable water use has now adopted a rooftop PV system that will zero out its utility use of electricity. “We didn’t do this for marketing, but rather as the right thing to do; we also want to show other breweries that it is a good thing to do,” says CEO Richard Norgrove, in Cloverdale, CA.

The recommendations of the review into Australia’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) released yesterday looks set to deal a 30% blow to the country’s rooftop solar industry – by its own estimations. The Australian Solar Council says that 8,000 solar jobs could be loss and many small businesses close.

After announcing last August that it attended to sell it’s solar business, equipment supplier Komax Group announced this week that Komax Solar has been sold in a management buyout of the company. Komax Solar, a stringer supplier, will now become Xcell Automation. pv magazine spoke to incoming Komax Solar President and CEO Brian Micciche about the move.

FERC figures reveal that last month renewable sources accounted for 100% of new generating capacity added to U.S. electricity grids. Solar accounted for 21 MW of the 405 MW of capacity added in July.

Chinese module manufacturer JinkoSolar has announced that it will supply 40 MW of modules to solar developer 8i for a project in Chile. The project will be located in the Valparaiso region, in Central Chile.

The Australian Solar Council has warned that demand for PV in the country could fall by around 40% to 50%, if the Renewable Energy Target is scrapped. The Australian Financial Review newspaper revealed today that the government has requested modeling to investigate removing the RET altogether.

Plans to develop what would have been the world’s largest CPV power plant have been scrapped. The 100 MW Mildura CPV power plant project, to be located in the Australian state of Victoria, has been discontinued. The developer Solar Systems cited low wholesale electricity prices and uncertainty over Australia’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) as the cause.

PV equipment supplier Singulus Technologies has reported weak first-half results, with “delays in order intake in the solar division,” one of the causes for depressed revenues. Singulus reported sales of $17.9 million for Q2, down from $35.4 million year-on-year.