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The last two years have brought about unprecedented growth for solar utility installations. The utility-scale solar market exploded in 2010 with 459 megawatts (MW) of photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) installations, according to the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). And it's looking like 2011 has the potential to knock those numbers out of the ballpark. According to the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA), as many as 50 utility-scale solar projects could be completed by the end of this year, totaling 831 MW.*

But what happens after 2011?

The solar industry on Wednesday launched its opening salvo to build support for an extension of a Treasury Department program its says has the potential to add tens of thousands of jobs while continuing to spur billions in private investment.

Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), spoke with the media to discuss the soon-to-expire Section 1603 Treasury Grant program, which allows energy developers in many industries such as solar, wind and biomass to receive a 30 percent grant in lieu of an existing tax credit. This direct payment comes only after a development comes online.

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced that the Energy Department finalized a $337 million loan guarantee to Mesquite Solar 1, LLC to support the development of an innovative photovoltaic solar generating project. The optimized 150 megawatt (MW) alternating current photovoltaic (PV) solar generation project will be located in Maricopa County, Arizona, approximately 45 miles west of Phoenix. Sempra Energy, the project sponsor, estimates the project will fund up to 300 construction jobs.

German officials have opened a 78-megawatt portion of what they say is now the world's largest solar PV park.

Saferay's 78-MW plant on former open-pit mining areas near Senftenberg in eastern Germany was completed in three months. The plant includes 330,000 crystalline solar modules and 62 central inverter stations.

An 18-MW development was completed by Phoenix Solar in 2010 and a 70-MW project commissioned in August was built parallel to the Saferay installation and includes common infrastructure. In all, the solar park has a capacity of 166 MW.

Berlin-based Unlimited Energy has developed the project with a particular focus on preserving nature and its habitat: "We preserved large areas of land between the installations to develop breeding space for birds and other animals alike", says Managing Director Torsten Käsch.

Source : RenewableEnergyWorld.com

 

BOSTON and WASHINGTON - The U.S. solar energy industry continued its rapid growth through the second quarter of this year, gaining a greater share of the total global market according to GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)'s latest quarterly U.S. Solar Market Insight report.

Leading the way was the U.S. solar photovoltaics (PV) market, which installed 314 megawatts in the second quarter, 69 percent more than the same period last year and 17 percent more than the first quarter of 2011. The U.S. remains poised to install 1,750 megawatts of PV in 2011, double last year's total and enough to power 350,000 homes.