Solar PV

France issues new regulations for large solar PV installations

/ Energy

Here is my latest post for CleanTechies : “On Monday, the French Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, presented new regulations for large solar installations.” “(…) Let us hope these new projects will be successful as the previous attempts at creating an solar photovoltaic industry in France have been a resounding failure. ” […]

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Solar PV gets even more efficient and cheaper

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To GreenTech Media : ” SunPower just announced their newest solar panels with total area efficiencies of more than 20 percent. The 96-cell solar panels use SunPower’s 22.4 percent efficient cells .” To Ecogeek : ” Researchers at Empa (the Swiss national research laboratory) have achieved a new record in thin-film solar cell efficiency. (…)

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Total to invest one billion euro in SunPower

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To Reuters : ” French energy major Total SA’s landmark $1.37 billion (note : one billion euro) offer for a majority stake in U.S. company SunPower Corp gave fresh impetus to hopes of more deals, lifting global solar stocks. ” ” Total’s move is one of the biggest ever by an oil and gas giant

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Solar film increases efficiency by 300%

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To CleanTechnica, a new film developed by HyperSolar, a Californian company, could halve the costs of solar panels and boost their efficiency by 300 percent. The film would replace the sheet of glass currently used with solar PV panels. “With HyperSolar as the top layer, manufacturers can use significantly fewer solar cells in the production

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16 GW of solar PV capacity added in 2010

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According to Reuters : ” The world added about 16 gigawatts of new solar photovoltaic (PV) power in 2010, double the growth seen a year earlier, the European Photovoltaic Industry Association told Reuters on Monday.” Out of these 16 gigawatts, Europe is behind the vast majority of the growth with an impressive 13 gigawatts. Out

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Avanti ! Italy goes forward on solar

/ Business, Energy / 2 Comments

Italy is currently in the news more because of Berlusconi’s taste for orgies but little is written on the expansion of solar photovoltaic there. However, there is much to write as it installed 6,000 MW of solar PV capacity in 2010 alone. To Cleantechies : ” 7 GWs of PV power will yield well over

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Boeing shatters solar power efficiency record

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I didn’t know Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company, was working on solar research and development, let alone that it might push the efficiency of solar panels to new hights with 39.2 percent. As CleanTechies notes : ” Boeing hopes to introduce their high-efficiency C3MJ+ solar cells around the globe as early as January, 2011.

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South Africa to build a 5,000 MW solar park

/ Sustainable development / Leave a Comment

The main problem with renewables today is scale. Even if they are growing faster and faster, we very rarely see projects that will bring more than a few hundred megawatts to the grids. But it is changing. Indeed, to CleanTechies, South Africa will soon build a five gigawatt park where technologies in photovoltaic and concentrated

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Obama to put solar panels on the White House

/ Energy / 2 Comments

Last week US President Barack Obama announced he will put back solar panels on the White House next year. The first solar panels were installed by President Carter in the 1970s and removed by Reagan in 1986. This made me wonder when l’Elysée, the residence of French Presidents will install solar panels as well. While

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A solar energy boom in rural Asia

/ Energy, Sustainable development / Leave a Comment

I really like the New York Times and its international edition, the International Herald Tribune. It gives a formidable insight on both today’s and tomorrow’s world. Today’s issue got two interesting articles. Today’s first article that caught my attention was about a solar boom in Asia. Indeed, the demand  for solar photovoltaic is due to

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