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BlueChip Energy Signs 10 MW Solar Power Purchase Agreement
Solar Power Provider to Develop One of the Largest Solar Energy PV Farms In The State BlueChip Energy, a provider of complete solar power solutions for residential, commercial, government and utility applications, today announced a power purchase agreement (PPA) to supply Progress Energy Florida with renewable solar photovoltaic (PV) power from the Rinehart Solar Farm, a 10 MW utility-scale solar PV facility the company is developing in Central Florida.
The Rinehart Solar Farm project, located in Lake Mary, Fla., (Orlando) will have a total capacity of 10 megawatts (MW) and an annual generation of approximately 15,000,000 kilowatt-hours. This is equivalent to the annual energy use of roughly 1,100 area homes. It will be the largest solar photovoltaic project in Central Florida. It will cover a portion of the 380,000 square foot rooftop space and surrounding acreage of BlueChip Energy’s Lake Mary facility. As a renewable energy project, the Rinehart Solar Farm will stimulate the local economy by creating an estimated 100 high-paying, high-skilled green jobs while building local expertise in solar energy. “We expect the Rinehart Solar Farm to serve as a model in the state of Florida for large-scale, alternative-energy projects,” commented Lawrence Hefler, spokesman for BlueChip Energy.
The solar farm will be built in stages, starting with a roof top plant totalling 120 kilowatts (kW). It is currently in the pre-construction planning phase and expected to be completed by the end of July, 2010. Stage two is a roof top plant consisting of 500 kW. Subsequent stages will consist of a third, 1.4 MW rooftop system and 8 MW of ground-based systems. Construction of the entire facility is expected to be completed by October 2010. BCE will build the plant using monocrystalline and polycrystalline solar PV modules and providing its own project development, engineering, procurement, and construction capabilities. The 10 MW of power generated from the solar plant will displace over 9,200 metric tons of CO2 per year, the equivalent of taking nearly 1,700 cars off the road.
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Sunfilm files for bankruptcy
Insolvency could affect 300 workers
Sunfilm which manufactures amorphous silicon modules (a-Si), has filed for insolvency claiming its business plans have been crippled by Germany’s plans to sharply reduce its solar feed-in tariff by July 1st. In addition, the past year has seen the thin-film industry lose some of its competitive edge to crystalline silicon modules, which have higher efficiencies, and have seen huge price reductions due to the financial crisis. Last year Sunfilm, became one of the world’s largest thin-film outfits with a combined production capacity of 145 megawatts, when it merged with Sontor. Sunfilm’s financial backers included Q-Cells, Good Energies and Norsun. By late 2009 Q-Cells - which suffered huge losses of its own last year - had written down its investment to zero.
Sunfilm chairman Wolfgang Heinze says that by filing for insolvency, the firm is “aiming for a strategic realignment of the company with a new investor”. “The current market conditions and feed-in tariff discussions hit Sunfilm at an already difficult stage of its market entry,” the firm says. “The shareholders have stopped their financial support.” The bankruptcy will affect 300 employees who had been on reduced shifts since the end of 2009. Sunfilm’s decision comes at a difficult time for US-based solar equipment manufacturer Applied Materials. Sunfilm uses SunFab technology at its production line in Grossroehrsdorf. Appled Materials had until lately intended to capitalise on the rise of the thin-film segment with its SunFab production line. Applied Materials has recently downsized its hopes for the a-Si sector, and has reportedly begun letting go workers dedicated to its SunFab line.
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