photovoltaic

The Spanish renewable energy company is building three solar facilities at the Benban complex in partnership with Saudi company, Swicorp. The installations will rely on solar modules provided by Chinese manufacturer, Astronergy and trackers from the Spanish provider, STI Norland.

The power purchase agreement (PPA) relates to large-scale PV projects planned to be operational by 2020. The buyer of the power generated by the solar facilities is Spain’s power provider, Audax. 495 MW of the capacity will be located in Spain, while the remaining 165 MW will be installed in Portugal.

The German PV company aims to finalize the proceedings, which are possible under German insolvency law since the summer of 2012. Business operations are expected to run at full capacity.

The feasibility study was conducted by France’s Tractebel Engineering SA. The authors of the report concluded that the 1.2 GW solar park is feasible, despite the current radioactive contamination levels in the area.

The production unit of Spain’s five-year idled solar cell maker, Cel Celis has been acquired by Bashmor Engineering. The new investor plans to restart manufacturing activities at the factory in Bembimbre, and to double capacity to 70 MW within a year.

The solar trackers made by the U.S. manufacturer will be used for the construction of the 754 MW Villanueva solar project in Torreón, in the Mexican state of Coahuila.

In a short chat with pv magazine, the head of Eon’s solar business in Germany, Sebastian Eisenberg has described how the German utility is planning to further develop its PV activities after the company’s recent plan to buy a majority stake in Innogy. The deal, in fact, envisages redistributing operations so that RWE focuses on the renewable energy business, while energy networks and customer solutions would be the responsibility of Eon.

The Hamburg-based solar and wind power plant operator saw its revenue and operating result increase significantly last year, thus exceeding its own forecasts.

The seller of the two PV projects, both to be developed in the state of Minas Gerais, is Chinese-Canadian solar module manufacturer, Canadian Solar. The €95 million transaction enables the Spanish power and gas provider to make its entry into the Brazilian solar market, after it secured its first large-scale PV projects in Spain in last summer’s auction.

The power plant will sell electricity to Iamgold’s Essakane Mine – an off-grid gold mine located 330 kilometers northeast of Burkina Faso‘s capital city, Ouagadougou.