According to a report by the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA), the 3rd quarter of 2011 was record breaking quarter in which solar installations in the U.S. hit 449 megawatts of new capacity in 3 months.
Read the full story (triplepundit)
Konarka company has spend years developing an organic solar technology for low-powered flexible and cheap solar chargers. The company achieved a new efficiency record of 8.3 percent which will allow numerous large scale applications.
Read the full story (Grist)
Eindhoven University of Technology is starting new research with aims of developing nano-structured solar cells that can attain an efficiency of more than 65 percent. The researchers claim that nanotechnology, in combination with the use of concentrated sunlight through mirror systems, has the potential to lead to the world’s most efficient solar cell system with a cost price lower than 50 cent per Watt peak.
Read the full story (SienceDaily)
Italy is building the largest solar power plant in Europe which will generate 72 megawatts. The power plant that will spreads over 850,000 square meters will begin operation already in 2010. The project is expected to cost up to 250 millions euros.
Read the full story (Yahoo)
A consortium of 20 companies is leading a global scale project to generate electricity by solar power in North Africa and send it to Europe. This international project is estimated at the cost of 400 billion euros.
Read the full story (Spiegel)
The most populated country in the world, China, is planning the largest solar photovoltaic power plant in the world. The facility will generate 1 Gig Watt, twice as much as the largest solar project exists. The construction will begin in the next months at a sunny desert.
Read the full story (EcoGeek)
(This news piece was sent by Ilia)
During 2007 there was a 45% increase in solar energy industry, and although there are still not official numbers for the year of 2008 it seems that 2008 had an even better increase despite of oil prices and the economic crisis. Today there are over 30,000 employees in more than 3400 companies in the solar industry, the European union has set some goals and Australia is investing major dollars on renewable energy.
