Yingli Green Energy, one of China's largest solar equipment makers, reported its seventh straight quarterly loss as weak prices for solar panels continued to weigh on margins.

SMA Solar Technology AG (S92), Germany’s biggest solar-energy company by market value, plans to make products in South Africa as it targets growth there.

SMA, the biggest maker of inverters that convert power from solar panels for use on the grid, seeks to set up a factory in South Africa to meet local-content requirements and tap into the country’s growing energy market, the Niestetal-based company said today in a statement.

Europeans live longer and healthier lives than in the past, partly due to successful environmental policies that have reduced the exposure to harmful environmental contaminants in air, water and food, according to a new report. However, these contaminants are still a problem, and several new health risks are emerging, for example, from new chemicals, new products and changing lifestyle patterns. 

Japan’s solar installations surged by a stunning 270 percent (in gigawatts (GW)) in the first quarter of 2013, positioning the country to surpass Germany to become the world’s largest photovoltaics (PV) market in terms of revenue this year.

Although Japan is forecast to install fewer GW than China (which is forecast to be the largest market in GW installation terms) in 2013, the high prices of PV systems in Japan will drive it to become the world’s largest market in revenue terms.

Steca Solarelektronik will contribute to the Intersolar from 19 to 21 June in Munich with new solutions for greater energy efficiency and optimum energy management. At the Neue Messe, the leading manufacturer from Memmingen will again be represented with a wide range of innovations in all three product areas, in hall B.4, stand number 111. Steca will also for the first time present the further development of the award-winning coolcept topology, with which inverters achieve the best efficiency in their power class.

Solar companies led a rally in Chinese stocks traded in New York after Deutsche Bank AG said the outlook of demand for the renewable energy is improving.

The Bloomberg China-US Equity Index of the most-traded Chinese stocks in the U.S. climbed 1.2 percent to 93.09 yesterday, rising for the first time in five days. Trina Solar Ltd., the world’s fourth-largest solar module producer, jumped 10 percent while Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. (YGE) advanced for a third day. Suntech Power Holdings Co. and LDK Solar Co. rose to one-week highs. Web fashion retailer Vipshop Holdings Ltd. (VIPS)tumbled the most in 14 months after the stock was downgraded.

A recent study by researchers at the University of Texas (Austin, Texas, US) indicates that Tokyo could use solar photovoltaic (PV) generation as “baseload” power, due to Japan's large amount of pumped hydro storage.

For nearly a decade First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR  ) has paced the solar industry. The company's thin-film solar modules were by far the most affordable per watt when the industry was emerging in the 2000s, and it generated a gross margin of over 50% for a period of time.

 The solar panels covering a vast warehouse roof in the sun-soaked Inland Empire region east of Los Angeles were only two years into their expected 25-year life span when they began to fail.

Sharp Corp. (6753), a Japanese maker of photovoltaic panels, completed the final stage of an 84-megawatt solar station in Thailand for Natural Energy Development Co.

The 10.3-megawatt facility is in addition to a 73.2-megawatt site completed in March 2012, Sharp said in a statement today.

Minera El Tesoro (MET), part of one of the largest mining groups in Chile, has built the first pilot plant in South America with Soitec Solar technology, installing four of its highly efficient concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) systems at a site in Chile’s Sierra Gorda district to provide renewable energy for a remote copper-mining operation. In addition to achieving the highest energy-generating efficiency, Soitec’s CPV systems feature very robust glass-glass technology, particularly well suited for hot and arid environments. This design offers the lowest degradation and doesn’t need any water for cooling, making it perfectly suited for this installation within the driest desert in the world.

Tata Power, India’s largest integrated power utility as part of its sustainability initiative is committed to generating 20-25% of its total generation capacity from clean energy sources. In line with its philosophy, Tata Power plans to add 30-50 MW of solar power and 150-200 MW of wind energy in India every year. Tata Power’s total investment in solar and wind energy so far is Rs. 2393 crore.

The European Union's trade chief said on Tuesday he would not give in to Chinese pressure on European governments to drop plans to levy duties on Chinese solar panels, calling Beijing's efforts "a waste of time".

An unnamed solar company won praise for its technology during SolarCity's recent Q1 2013 earnings call.

“One of the biggest kind of step-function changes that is currently underway is the movement away from rail-based installation hardware to installation hardware that doesn’t depend on the rail,” SolarCity (SCTY) co-founder and CTO Peter Rive said in answer to a question about cost-cutting innovations in residential rooftop solar.

The giant Ivanpah solar thermal project in the Mojave Desert is now 92 percent complete, developers said this week. The 377-megawatt project consists of three 459-foot-tall towers encircled by arrays of garage-door-sized mirror sets. Those computer-controlled heliostats -- 153,990 out of 173,500 of which are now in place -- will reflect the sun onto the receiving towers, heating water to create steam that will drive turbines that produce electricity.

Europe will impose tariffs on imported Chinese solar modules, probably by June 6.

Last-minute talks between Chinese and European Commission (EC) officials failed to head off imposition of the tariffs, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The key to building a solar project is understanding the risk. That’s what Mortenson Construction learned when it moved into the sector from wind.

And Mortenson Construction is on its way to winning its bet on solar -- with about 100 solar megawatts built, ongoing work as subcontractor to SunPower on the MidAmerican Solar 579-megawatt Antelope Valley Solar Projects (AVSP), and ground broken on 50 more megawatts.

SolarCity has reservations for at least 65 energy storage systems in California, according to the latest SGIP summary. (SGIP is California's Self Generation Incentive Program which provides a subsidy for fuel cells, biogas digesters, energy storage, etc.) In 2009, SGIP started offering credits of $2 per watt for energy storage systems that can store power from an eligible on-site generation system and discharge it at rated capacity for a four-hour period.

CSUN took the next step in its globalization approach and celebrated the grand opening of its factory in Istanbul yesterday together with the Turkish Minister of Energy Taner Yildiz, the Vice President of the government party and parliament member Salih Kapusuz as well as the Chinese Consul General Zhang Qingyang.

A combined 700 megawatts of approved solar farm operating licences held by benign licence holders will be revoked soon, says an Energy Ministry senior official.

The official, who declined to be named, said solar energy licences covering 3,000 MW have been approved by the ministry for those seeking the government's subsidy through the adder tariff programme since 2008 but only 400 MW are in operation.

Shares of Canadian Solar, which has most of its manufacturing operations in China, shot up as much as 24 percent. Prices of other solar stocks also rose.

Solar manufacturers turned to China for new business after trade disputes threatened to shut them out of the United States and Europe but heavy competition has squeezed already-weak margins, forcing them to seek new markets.

Fines Tubes (www.finetubes.com) one of the leading UK manufacturers of metal tubing for the aerospace, medical, chemical, nuclear, power and oil and gas sectors is now working in partnership with Superior Tube.

The Scandinavian-German manufacturer Innotech Solar (ITS) is demanding the enforcement of anti-dumping duties for Chinese solar modules. This has been prompted by Chinese manufacturers selling their photovoltaic modules below their production costs in order to undercut European competitors. In the event that the European solar industry falls, Chinese prices would rise significantly.

Grid parity has reached Australia. In the state of Queensland, Conergy has recently commissioned a solar plant that operates without any feed-in tariff. After the numerous self-consumption plants in Spain on the roofs of an organic restaurant, several commercial enterprises and private households, which are cost-effective without any subsidies, the PV solution and service provider is now illustrating that such projects are also possible in the sun-kissed country of Australia. There, the solar experts have just connected a 100 kilowatt rooftop plant to the grid, being installed at the newly constructed retirement nursing home “Casa d’Amore” in South Brisbane.

The Higher Council for Science and Technology's National Centre for Research and Development NCRD on Sunday signed an agreement with the French Solar Euromed firm to launch the first pilot solar energy station and laboratory in southern Jordan.

The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to find out whether an exemption for large electricity consumers from network charges granted in Germany since 2011 constitutes state aid. If this turns out to be the case the Commission will further examine whether the exemption is likely to unduly distort competition in the EU or whether it can be justified. Opening an in-depth investigation does not prejudge its outcome. It allows Germany and third parties to comment on the measure under review.

Real Goods Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: RSOL) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to raise approximately $9.25 million by issuing 3,366,974 shares of Class A common stock at a per share price of $2.75 and warrants to purchase 1,683,488 shares of Class A common stock, with a term of five years from the closing date and an exercise price of $2.75 per share.

Chinese solar panel makers are shunning their overcrowded home market in favor of lucrative exports, a switch that has helped to arrest a two-year slump in margins and push shares to 12-month peaks.

Los Angeles has made a number of strides toward what many hope is a bright energy future with a big new PV array and the finalization of its 150 MW feed-in-tariff (FIT) program.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has begunreceiving electricity from a new 8.5 MW solar array co-located with the utility's Pine Tree Wind Farm. The LADWP expects the array, located in the Tehachapi Mountains and consisting of  35,160 ground-mounted solar modules, to produce an average of 18 GWh per year over 25 years. The project represents the LADWP’s second utility-built solar array.

Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (Baoding, China) has announced that its Singapore subsidiary will supply 10.3 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules to a subsidiary of Amcorp Group Berhad (Selangor, Malaysia) for a PV plant in Malaysia.

ABB plans to start production of central inverters in South Africa to support the rapidly growing local photovoltaic (PV) market and local content requirements.

ABB announced that the company will open the new inverter production line at its existing facilities in Johannesburg in 2014. The line for its PVS800 range of central inverters will have a production capacity of approximately 500 megawatts (MW) a year. It will produce 630 kilowatt (kW), 875 kW and 1,000 kW central inverters. The company already produces solar inverters in Estonia, India and China.

A majority of EU governments oppose a plan to impose hefty duties on solar panel imports from China, a survey of member states showed on Monday, undermining efforts by Brussels to pressure Beijing over its trade practices.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that she’ll work to resolve a European Union trade dispute with China over complaints that the Chinese solar industry is flooding the global market with cheap products.

TRITEC is now offering a program upgrade for its installation systems. With the TRI-STAND east/west base structure, PV systems in the east/west layout can now be installed at an angle of 10 or 20 degrees. This installation version, which is comprised of only a few components, is especially straightforward and quick to assemble, and convinces with its high quality components and visuals. It goes without saying that the new installation system, just like all other TRITEC installation systems, can also be quickly and intuitively configured with the TRI-DESIGN PV software.

The Souilly wind farm, which started production in November 2012, consists of five wind turbines with a power capacity of 2 MW each. The site has an estimated annual production of more than 22,000,000 kWh a year, enough to provide eco-friendly electricity to around 5,500 households, corresponding to a town of the size of Verdun.

Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (NYSE: YGE) ("Yingli Green Energy" or the "Company"), a leading solar energy company and one of the world's largest vertically integrated photovoltaic ("PV") manufacturers, which markets its products under the brand "Yingli Solar", announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary,Yingli Green Energy Singapore Company Pte. Limited ("Yingli Singapore") will supply 10.269 MW of multicrystalline PV modules to Amcorp Power Sdn. Bhd. ("Amcorp Power"), which is a subsidiary of Amcorp Group Berhad, an investment holding company based in Malaysia.

Today, Tesla Motors repaid the entire remaining balance on a $465 million loan from the Department of Energy nine years earlier than originally required.  U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz made the following statement:

“When you’re talking about cutting-edge clean energy technologies, not every investment will succeed -- but today’s repayment is the latest indication that the Energy Department’s portfolio of more than 30 loans is delivering big results for the American economy while costing far less than anticipated.

AES Energy Storage is one of the world’s biggest grid energy storage project developers, with 150 megawatts of battery-based energy storage installed from the windy hills of West Virginia to Chile's Atacama desert. But that’s just a small part of the bigger business of parent company AES Corp., which has $42 billion in energy assets ranging from storage and renewable energy to good old natural gas and coal. 

Energy storage is often called the holy grail of renewable energy. The problem with the "grail" language is that the grail was never located. At least not with a compelling business case.

There is a lot to report from this week's Energy Storage Association meeting, and the approximately 400 engineers, developers, researchers, and utility experts it attracted to Santa Clara, California. This is the kickoff article in a series of energy storage articles. GTM's Jeff St. John attended and has already written about energy storage pioneer AES' integration software and a related move to standardization and plug-and-play batteries from software vendor 1Energy.

AT&T already has a ton of business in the utility sector, providing everything from workforce connectivity to the backhaul networks that help connect millions of smart meters and other grid devices in the field. But to date, AT&T and its telecommunications coequals, such as Verizon and Sprint, haven’t made the leap from smart grid ICT solutions providers to actually putting together smart grid projects themselves.

Switzerland-based inverter manufacturer Sputnik Engineering has opened the first U.S. office for its SolarMax business unit in Atlanta. The office will provide sales and research and development support for the company's U.S. operations.

Local creditors of Wuxi Suntech, the bankrupt unit of Chinese solar panel maker Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd, on Wednesday claimed the subsidiary owed them a combined $2.5 billion, at the start of a debt restructuring process expected to last months.

Panasonic Corp. (6752.TO) will cease U.S. production of silicon wafers for use in solar cells as it consolidates output at a new plant in Malaysia, the Nikkei reported in its Thursday morning edition.

The company makes silicon ingots at a factory that subsidiary Sanyo Electric Co. brought onstream in the state of Oregon in 2009, and these are processed into thin wafers. The processing work at the facility will be discontinued at the end of next month. Having shut down a plant in California last year, the company will have no processing facilities in the U.S.

Segen, the UK’s leading value added distributor of renewable technologies, has today announced a new partnership with Renusol solar mounting systems, adding Renusol high quality solar mounting equipment to its comprehensive portfolio.

The bond creditors of the EUR 50,000,000 7 % bond 2011/2016 (“Bond” or “Debentures”) of CENTROSOLAR Group AG voted by a large majority in favour of the proposed balance sheet reconstruction concept at today’s creditors’ meeting. The resolution envisages that all bond creditors transfer their Debentures to a bank acting as settlement agent (“Settlement Agent”) for their contribution to CENTROSOLAR Group AG, and in return, after the capital reduction, receive the right to acquire a total of 5,500,000 newly issued shares in the company via the Settlement Agent without further consideration (“Acquisition Right”). 

The second edition of Building Solar China (Guangzhou) - Conference and Exhibition (BSC) opens its doors from 09 to 12 June 2013 (Conference 09 -10 June 2013, Exhibition 09 - 12 June 2013) at the China Import and Export Fair Complex, Guangzhou, China. BSC is jointly organised by Messe Frankfurt and WIP and takes place embedded in the 18th Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition (GILE), the largest lighting trade fair in Asia, and the 10th Guangzhou Electrical Building Technology (GEBT).

Chilean renewable energy research institute Centro de Energias Renovables (CER) has issued a request for proposal to help developers to start Chilean renewable energy projects across the country. 

Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (NYSE: YGE) ("Yingli Green Energy" or the "Company"), a leading solar energy company and one of the world's largest vertically integrated photovoltaic ("PV") manufacturers, which markets its products under the brand "Yingli Solar", today announced its preliminary financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2013.

Sanyo Electric Co may cease to exist under a reorganization by Panasonic Corp that includes global jobs cuts, Nikkei reported on Friday.

Panasonic will cut 90 percent of Sanyo's global workforce of about 2,500 in around three years, the daily reported.

Mercom Capital Group LLC (Austin, Texas, US) has released its “Indian Solar Market Update” for the second quarter of 2013, reporting that 557 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) has been installed to date in 2013.

Solar products maker JA Solar Holdings Co Ltd reported another quarterly loss as lower prices for panels that convert sunlight into electricity hurt the Chinese company's chances of profitability for the eighth time in a row.

The Obama administration is engaged in preliminary talks with the European Union and China to settle a dispute over trade in solar-energy equipment and avoid a conflict among the world’s largest economies, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Ninety-four per cent of bathing sites in the European Union meet minimum standards for water quality, according to the European Environment Agency's annual report on bathing water quality in Europe. Water quality is excellent at 78 % of sites and almost 2 % more sites meet the minimum requirements compared to last year's report.

Although global capital spending this year in the photovoltaics (PV) supply chain is expected to fall to its lowest level since 2006, indications signal that the downturn in investment has hit bottom and that purchases of equipment may soon rebound.

Capital spending among PV companies is set to drop to $2.3 billion in 2013, down 36 percent from $3.6 billion in 2012, according to the PV Manufacturing & Capital Spending Tool from information and analytics provider IHS (NYSE: IHS). 

The recently announced transaction will reduce REC’s 2014 convertible bond by 50 percent through partial repayment and partial extension of debt maturity to 2016 and 2018. The refinancing of NOK 1.2 billion (EUR 160 million) is funded through an equity issue raising NOK 372 million (about EUR 50 million), NOK 0.4 billion (EUR 55 million) in existing available cash and increasing the size of the existing 2016 and 2018 senior bond facilities by about NOK 0.4 billion (EUR 55 million).

Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) released the following statement after the Senate confirmed Dr. Ernest Moniz to be Secretary of Energy by a vote of 97 to 0.

“Dr. Moniz is extremely qualified and will be ready to hit the ground running as Energy Secretary,” said Cantwell. “With today’s unanimous vote, Americans will have a new Energy Secretary who knows the importance of investing in 21st century energy innovation, and is prepared to tackle the many tough challenges that await him at the Department of Energy.

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT), the global leader in  manufacturing solutions for the semiconductor, display and solar industries, today reported results for its second quarter of fiscal 2013 ended April 28, 2013.

Forget about your complicated tax credits, your net metering, and your feed-in tariff schemes. Let’s go solar the straightforward way: Mandate it!

Lancaster, Calif., in Los Angeles County, did so earlier this year, and the move had the feel of a one-off, the unique inspiration of a Republican mayor with an admirable love for renewable energy and a hankering for attention. But now the town of Sebastopol, in the apple- and grape-growing rolling hills of western Sonoma County, is following suit with a much more aggressive ordinance, suggesting that solar-by-fiat might be more viable as policy than we thought.

Solaria is moving into the Chinese solar market.

Solaria President Suvi Sharma said Solaria's low-concentration photovoltaic (LCPV) technology along with the company’s significant experience in China are reasons to believe it can succeed.  

The announcement that PG&E has stopped taking applications for its portion of the CSI residential program has caused a bit of nostalgia and something of a feel-good moment among some in the solar industry.

In a competitive, fast-moving market, how does a technology firm determine which materials and processes are needed to make the best possible device? How does a solar or battery or LED company, betting its future on a particular material, plan an experimental direction and investment program in research and development?

NextEra Energy Resources has acquired Smart Energy Capital, a commercial solar project developer with more than 75 megawatts of PV deployed across a number of states, according to sources close to the deal. Smart Energy Capital and NextEra have confirmed the transaction. Financial details were not disclosed.

SolarCity (Nasdaq: SCTY), a provider of distributed energy, just announced a $500 million lease financing agreement with Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS). That translates to more than 100 megawatts of solar power.

GTM and Stephen Lacey have been looking very hard at energy efficiency audit scienceand businesses.

So has SolarCity. And SolarCity has decided to change its energy efficiency strategy. 

With a new secretary at the helm and the stimulus winding down, the Department of Energy is undergoing a number of changes. But amidst those changes, leaders at the department continue to push for more investments in clean energy.

The Army, Navy and Air Force are using more than 130 megawatts of solar for everything from powering remote special operations to air conditioning and lighting for U.S. base residences. And the forces intend to keep building toward 3 gigawatts of solar capacity by 2025 as part of a much bigger Department of Defense (DOD) commitment.

Tracer rounds from 50-caliber machine guns lit up the sky the night I landed at Baghdad International Airport.

Like hundreds of thousands of Americans over three decades, I was in the Middle East, in uniform, carrying a gun to protect our national energy interests. A little over a year later, I took off from Bagram Airfield, returned home, and co-founded Sunrun to help American homeowners get their energy from clean, affordable, and domestic solar power.

Construction has resumed on First Solar's 230-megawatt solar power plant in Antelope Valley.

Concerns about management of dust from Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One (AVSR1) have been resolved, according to First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) Global Communications Director Steve Krum.

Never-fail military microgrids are breaking new ground in distributed energy management. Now one of them is getting connected to the grid at large.

That’s the news from Fort Bliss, Texas, where the U.S. Army and Lockheed Martin cut the symbolic ribbon Thursday on the first Department of Defense grid-tied microgrid. The project, started in 2010, uses renewable energy (a 120-kilowatt solar array) and energy storage (a 300-kilowatt battery system), as well as the base’s existing backup generators, and ties it into a miniature grid via Lockheed’s Intelligent Microgrid Control System.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has engaged the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to help measure the region's solar resource.

SunPower Corp. (SPWR), the second-largest U.S. solar manufacturer, expects photovoltaic panels to become a standard feature in new home construction in the U.S., Chief Executive Officer Tom Werner said.

An international group of banks led by BayernLB has provided a financing framework totaling €85 million toGehrlicher Solar AG, including €30 million for avals (guarantees), for another two years. The mezzanine capital of €6 million was also extended by Bayern Mezzaninekapital GmbH & Co. KG for the same period.

JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq:JASO) ("JA Solar" or the "Company"), one of the world's largest manufacturers of high-performance solar power products, today announced that it has repaid at maturity a total of $119 million, comprising the principal amount and accrued interest, of its 4.5% convertible notes due May 15, 2013.

ISRA VISION is expanding its range of production automation and quality inspection technology products by taking over GP Solar and GP Inspect, and in doing so it is branching out into the photovoltaic industry. Customers can benefit from the many years of experience in production and process support as well as from the company's expertise in every stage of the value added chain in the solar industry. With this expanded technical basis and the powerful innovative force behind it, manufacturers of photovoltaic systems can receive even better support in increasing their production efficiency and their bottom lines by reducing their overall costs.

REC, the largest European supplier of solar panels globally, announces that it has significantly reduced the debt maturing in the second quarter 2014.

The recently announced transaction will reduce REC’s 2014 convertible bond by 50 percent through partial repayment and partial extension of debt maturity to 2016 and 2018. The refinancing of NOK 1.2 billion (EUR 160 million) is funded through an equity issue raising NOK 372 million (about EUR 50 million), NOK 0.4 billion (EUR 55 million) in existing available cash and increasing the size of the existing 2016 and 2018 senior bond facilities by about NOK 0.4 billion (EUR 55 million).

On May 13th, 2013 Scatec Solar AS (Oslo, Norway) signed agreements with South Africa's Department of Energy to build two solar photovoltaic (PV) projects totaling 115 MW under the second round of the nation's Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Program (REIPPP).

Japan Asia Group Ltd. (3751), a developer of clean energy projects, said plans to develop 500 megawatts of solar projects in Japan are moving ahead while it considers trimming European operations.

SolarCity Corp. (SCTY), a solar energy developer chaired by Elon Musk, won financing from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. for more than $500 million in rooftop solar systems that the company will complete this year.

The European Commission has agreed to impose average import duties of 47 percent on solar panels from China, according to officials, a move they say is to guard against the dumping of cheap goods in Europe.

Fentress Architects and Mortenson Construction celebrated breaking ground on the new $200 million, 467,000-square foot Charles Schwab campus that will be located on a 40-plus-acre site in Lone Tree, Colorado. Charles Schwab Corporation Founder and Chairman Charles R. Schwab, Governor John Hickenlooper, Mayor of City of Lone Tree Jim Gunning, and Douglas County Commissioner Jill Repella spoke at the event.

UK solar installation firm Engensa will today announce that it has been acquired by Chinese renewable energy giant Hanergy in a deal that could have significant implications for the global solar market.

Hanergy is China's largest privately owned renewable energy generator, largely thanks to its operation of 6GW of hydroelectric capacity. However, it is also engaged in a global acquisition push in the solar sector, which has seen it purchase two of the world's leading thin film solar technology specialists in the form of MiaSole and Solibro.

Trina Solar Ltd. (TSL), the Chinese panel maker with six consecutive quarterly losses, fell the most in seven weeks after saying first-quarter shipments will be lower than an earlier forecast.

Trina’s American depositary receipts, each worth 50 ordinary shares, declined (TSL) 8.8 percent to $5.41 at the close in New York, the most since March 25.

Greece has cut feed-in tariff rates roughly 44% for solar photovoltaic (PV) plants installed after February 1st, 2013.

Grid-tied ground-mounted PV plants smaller than 100kW installed from February 1^st, 2013 through January 31st, 2014 will have their rates reduced to EUR 0.095/kWh, with plants larger than 100 kW receiving EUR 0.120/kWh.

The loss before interest and taxes in the first three months of the year was 8.4 million euros ($11 million), compared with a loss of 13 million euros forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll.

Eurus Energy Holdings Corp., a Japanese developer of renewable energy projects, plans to build a 115-megawatt solar power station in northern Japan.

The company aims to begin construction in July and start running the station in Rokkasho village, Aomori prefecture, in November 2015, Mitsue Usami, a spokeswoman for Eurus, said in a telephone interview today.

DNV’s continued focus on safety and service quality and the ability to provide leading-edge technology advice and solutions contributed to the company’s strong market and financial performance in 2012. Revenues increased by 27% compared to 2011 and DNV strengthened its global position in all its key areas: maritime, oil & gas, energy & sustainability and business assurance.

A new report by Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) refutes the argument that duties imposed on Chinese imports will damage the solar sector. The report counters the Prognos study commissioned by AFASE which predicts job losses if duties are imposed. A press release by EU ProSun states the AFASE report makes a number of scientifically unsupported claims, such as the estimate of potential job losses exceeding the actual total number of direct and indirect solar jobs in some countries.

Looking toward a sunny future within its expanding energy business, Nippon Paper Industries Co. said on May 14 that it will initiate the largest mega-solar project in the Shikoku region in collaboration with Mitsubishi Corp.

DEGER consolidates its position as the world’s leader for solar tracking: The company’s new generation of tracking systems combines numerous technical enhancements with a price level that is more than 20 percent lower than in the year before. The first product in this new generation is the DEGERtracker D100. The new systems are now immediately available in Europe.

The battle over net metering has been brewing for years, but it is beginning to bubble over now. Public disputes have emerged in California, Arizona and Texas, with other states surely close behind. But just as important, and less publicly discussed, is the vital role that utility rate design plays in the economics of distributed solar.

Today GTM Research released a free report on the subject titled Rate Design Matters: The Impact of Utility Tariff Structure on Solar Project Economics. The report was borne out of our ongoing modeling of solar projects in various locations to estimate when they will become economic without any state-level incentives. The good news is that there are places in the U.S. right now (think Hawaii, parts of California, and Arizona residential) where solar is cheaper than grid power when you take into account only the ITC and accelerated depreciation. The bad news is that the existence of this cost advantage depends entirely on a given customer’s electricity rate structure.

Rate structure is too often ignored in public solar discourse, particularly in discussions of “grid parity.” Apart from some issues I have with the concept itself, the main mistake most analysts make is in estimating not the cost of solar, but the cost of grid power. The EIAmaintains a great dataset on average electricity prices, but only full retail prices. And as any solar developer/installer knows, solar doesn’t always reduce a customer’s bill by the full retail rate. There are fixed charges on most bills (particularly in the commercial sector), not to mention nuances such as time-of-use pricing and tiered rates, that drastically alter the competitiveness of a solar project.

There are two risks to ignoring these factors. The first is that we overestimate the current competitiveness of solar and, thus, underestimate the need for runway in local and state-level incentives. The second is that the solar industry’s focus on net metering leaves an opening for unfriendly utilities to gut distributed PV markets through tariff revisions.

In the report, we use the example of Southern California Edison territory, where commercial solar customers can currently opt into a solar-friendly tariff (TOU-GS-3-R) instead of the default commercial rate (TOU-GS-3-B). The difference in the effective avoided cost for an average solar customer is $0.03/kWh -- more than enough to make or break a project. To put that number in context, $0.03/kWh can be equivalent as much as $0.80/W in PV system costs.

Based on conservative system price forecasts, the average commercial customer on the solar-friendly SCE tariff would see modest savings from PV through 2020 (even after the expiration of the ITC), while the average commercial customer on the default rate runs the risk of never achieving parity.

FIGURE: Commercial PV Economics in Southern California Edison Territory

Source: Rate Design Matters: The Impact of Utility Tariff Structure on Solar Project Economics

Our examples are representative rather than exact, but the contrast is striking. And it is not an issue unique to California. High demand charges in Texas have kept solar companies at bay there for years. In APS territory (AZ), demand charges that make up the default commercial rate (E-32) account for around half of a solar customer’s bill -- which is why we have low expectations for the commercial market after incentives dry up.

Rate design can cut both ways. While the introduction of a solar-friendly tariff can open a new market, negative revisions to existing tariffs can shut one down. So as PV penetration increases, be aware that the arcane, complicated world of utility rates and regulation will shape the future of the market.

Back to News

The European Union (EU) is moving ahead with tariffs on imported Chinese solar panels in an effort to protect its own module makers.

European Commission (EC) Trade Head Karel De Gucht will recommend the EC impose anti-dumping (AD) charges similar to those imposed last year by the U.S., according toReuters.