News in brief - 3 September 2008

Mitsubishi to quadruple PV by 2012
TOKYO, JAPAN, September 4, 2008. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation plans to quadruple its annual photovoltaic (PV) cell production to 600 MW by 2012, investing ¥50 billion.

Vestas expands in Colorado
PORTLAND, OREGON, USA, September 4, 2008. Vestas is building a new blade factory and a nacelle assembly factory in Brighton, Colorado, USA.

PG&E enters 90 MW wind purchase agreement
SAN FRANSISCO, CALIFORNIA, USA, September 4, 2008. Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has entered into a long-term agreement with Iberdrola Renewables subsidiary Klondike Wind Power III LLC to purchase 90 MW of wind power.

Standing room only at EUPVSEC
VALENCIA, SPAIN, September 4, 2008. Record crowds found that late attendance at conference sessions left them standing in the hallway as the 23rd EU Solar PV Conference got underway in Valencia.

LDK Solar awards US$220m wafer contract
XINYU CITY, CHINA, September 3, 2008. Solar wafers manufacturer LDK Solar Co Ltd has awarded a US$220 million contract to Applied Materials Inc to provide precision wafering systems to support its next phase of production expansion.

Waste to (wind) energy
PORTSMOUTH, UK, September 3, 2008. A product design student at the University of Portsmouth, UK, has designed a £20 wind turbine from recycled materials.

AWEA launches PTC campaign
DENVER, COLORADO, USA, September 3, 2008. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and 175 other companies and organisation call for the extension of the renewable energy and energy efficiency tax credits when Congress reconvenes in September.

EDF grants £1.4m for offshore investigation
DONCASTER, UK, September 2, 2008. Soil Mechanics has been awarded a £1.4 million ground investigation contract from EDF Energy for the proposed construction of a 90 MW offshore wind farm.

REC expands in Quebec
SANDVIKA, NORWAY, September 2, 2008. Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (REC) has announced Bécancour, Quebec in Canada, as the site for its next phase of silicon materials expansion.

Denmark plans 400 MW offshore wind farm
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK, September 2, 2008. The Danish Ministry for Climate and Energy says a new 400 MW offshore wind farm will be built by 2012.

Oerlikon expects grid parity by 2010
TRÜBBACH, SWIZERLAND, September 2, 2008. Oerlikon Solar said its facilities will achieve grid parity by 2010 in connection with the opening of the company’s new fully-automated thin-film pilot line at Trübbach, Switzerland.

Charge an iPod with Vodka?
SHANGHAI, CHINA, September 1, 2008. Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies has launched what it calls the fuel cell industry’s first direct ethanol product.

Silicon prices to drop 43% in 2009
LONDON, UK, September 1, 2008. The price of polysilicon is set to drop by up to 43% next year, according to the New Energy Finance Silicon and Wafer Price Index, which was recently launched by analysts New Energy Finance.

Dow Corning speeds up solar panel production rates
MIDLAND, MICHIGAN, USA, September 1, 2008. Dow Corning Corp. has announced a new manufacturing process for solar panels that increases production rates and lowers costs.

- 5 September 2008 -

Load balancing: PSE installs wind with PV

Many critics’ arguments against the commercial viability of wind and PV amount to the fact that neither can be used as baseload power at large scale – and therefore ‘why would a utility, for example, be interested in adopting them’?

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