Solyndra, Fremont, Calif.-based manufacturer of commercial photovoltaic (PV) systems, announced the completion and full operation of a 132kWp system by SPG Solar, Novato, Calif., on the rooftop of a movie theater in Livermore, Calif. The Livermore project involved covering a complex roof shape with many areas not aligned in the north/south direction.
First Solar, Tempe, Ariz., has entered into a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Westminster, Colo. The agreement, which represents the largest PV contract by an electric cooperative in the United States, calls for First Solar to engineer, procure, and construct (EPC) a 30MW AC ground-mounted PV power plant in northeastern New Mexico.
Ascent Solar Technologies expanded an existing 120,000 square-foot building in Thornton, Colo., into a 145,000 square-foot building, making renovations to house its headquarters and planned 30MW-capacity manufacturing lines that will produce solar modules that can power homes, commercial buildings, and consumer devices. Ascent Solar is expanding from its existing Littleton, Colo., facility, where its 1.5MW-capacity manufacturing line currently produces fully integrated lightweight thin-film modules using a flexible plastic substrate.
Conergy Americas, Denver, recently installed what is believed to be the world’s first single-axis solar tracking system featuring thin-film PV cells. The 419kW system went live in late March.
Osram Sylvania, Danvers, Mass., has been awarded the 2009 Energy Star Sustained Excellence Award by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy in recognition of the company’s continued leadership in protecting the environment through energy efficiency. The company has been an Energy Star partner since 1999 and is a four-time winner of the Sustained Excellence Award, which is given to a select group of organizations that have exhibited outstanding leadership year after year.