By March 2011, the French government wants to fix new solar electricity tariffs for the larger PV installations. Until then, a moratorium is in force for systems with a capacity exceeding 3 kW. The reason is that the government regards the present development of PV as too fast. This year, around 500 to 550 MW of photovoltaic capacity has been connected to the grid in France.
Biel - The Swiss manufacturer of solar inverters will open its new branch office in London on 1st January 2011. Sputnik Engineering continues to grow and its new sales location will place them closer to their customers and enables the company to respond more flexibly to the growing photovoltaic market in the UK.
With Governor Schwarzenegger's term coming to an end in California, its newly-elected governor, Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown Jr. was sworn in the first week of January. According to the Solar Home & Business Journal, Governor Brown's goal to add 20,000 MW to the electrical grid is an aggressive target, but one that keeps in line with Schwarzenegger's projections.
For this purpose, the researchers use the measurement of photoluminescence. By means of this technology, points can be identified on freshly cut wafers where the separated charge carriers recombine rapidly and thus are no longer available for charge transport, which results in a poorer quality of the solar cells.
Siemens Energy has signed a framework agreement with Suntech Power the world’s largest manufacturer of photovoltaic (PV) modules. The photovoltaic modules to be supplied under this umbrella agreement are for several projects in Europe.
Aragonne - Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory in partnership with an analyst at Gartner, Inc. have developed a new and more instructive approach to calculate the lifetime cost for a solar-generated energy system for comparison to other energy systems.
Photovoltaic Feed