A tough legal and financial terrain is confronting producers, utilities and regulators.
Hawaii and California grapple over net energy metering.
Wisconsin Energy to acquire Integrys in a transaction valued at $9.1 billion; Dominion to acquire the CID Solar Project from EDF Renewable Energy; Landis+Gyr to acquire GRIDiant Corp.; PPL Corporation and Riverstone Holdings LLC to merge merchant power generation businesses into a new company Talen Energy Corporation; plus debt offerings totaling $1.5 billion.
Vista Solar completed a 118-kW high efficiency SunPower solar power system for national builder DPR Construction. The system, which was designed, engineered and installed by Vista Solar, is expected to generate at least 158,000 kW hours of energy each year. To generate the maximum amount of power within limited roof space, Vista Solar installed high-efficiency SunPower X21/345 solar panels.
SunPower and AE-AMD Renewable Energy, a joint venture between the Spanish AMDA energía and the South African Alt-E Technologies, as well as its partners have completed two South African ground-mounted solar projects and are now feeding 33 MW into the grid. Both projects, which were constructed by SunPower, are located near Douglas, South Africa in the Northern Cape Province. Herbert, a 22-MW project, and the 11-MW Greefspan project, were both part of the South African government's Independent Power Producers Procurement Program.
MidAmerican Solar and SunPower installed the one millionth photovoltaic module at the Solar Star projects, co-located in Kern and Los Angeles counties in California. When complete, the 579-MW projects will have more than 1.7 million modules installed. The first solar module was installed in March 2013. The Solar Star projects are owned by MidAmerican Solar and are being constructed by SunPower, which also will provide operations and maintenance services. Construction on the projects began in 2013 and is expected to be complete by year-end 2015.
Xcel Energy and SunPower signed a PPA to build a 50-MW solar power plant in Colorado's San Luis Valley. Construction of the solar power plant is contingent on the project securing all required permits, interconnection rights and financing. SunPower expects to start construction in 2015, and to achieve full commercial operation by the end of 2016. At the 320-acre site, SunPower will design and build a SunPower Oasis Power Plant system.