First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR) on Tuesday announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Chinese government to build a 2-gigawatt (GW) solar power plant in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, China. This represents the first major project by a U.S. cleantech firm in China. And 2 GW is by far the largest planned solar power plant in the world. The plan calls for four development phases, beginning with a 30-megawatts (MW) demonstration phase to begin construction in June 2010 and ending with a 1,000-MW phase to be completed by 2019.
The other major announcement this week comes from solar thermal company BrightSource Energy. The company selected global engineering giant Bechtel as the engineering and construction contractor for its Ivanpah project in California. The planned output from this 440-MW facility represents a portion of large power purchase agreements BirghtSource signed with Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison. Bechtel will also become an investor in the project, which is schedule to begin construction in early 2010.
In a separate report, BrightSource said this week that it is looking for partners to establish its technology platform in China and India.
Thin-film solar company Nanosolar inaugurated its new German panel-assembly factory located near Berlin. Nanosolar said the fully-automated factory is capable of processing the company’s printed solar cells into finished panels at a rate of one panel every ten seconds. That equals an annual capacity of 640 megawatts (MW) if the facility is operated 24-hours a day. However, production is currently set much lower at approximately one MW per month. The company said it will ramp up production, as its clients attain financing for the $4.1 billion dollars worth of orders that have been backlogged.
Japanese oil refiner Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K. (5002.T) announced plans for a third thin-film solar manufacturing plant in Miyazaki Prefecture. The plant will have a production capacity of 900 MW and is expected to cost roughly US$1.1 billion. Showa Shell is aiming for 1 GW of annual capacity by 2014 in a push to become one of the worlds top producers of thin-film solar panels.
Solyndra, Inc. has begun construction of its second solar panel manufacturing plant in Fremont, California. The plant, which is partially funded by a U.S. Treasury loan, will have a capacity of 500 megawatts (MW) per year. Solyndra estimates that construction of the facility will employ more than 3,000 people and ongoing operations will create more than 1,000 jobs. The new facility will help Solyndra fulfill its announced contractual backlog of more than $2 billion.
Germany’s E.ON (EOAN.DE) officially announced the completion of its Panther Creek wind farm, located in Big Spring, Texas. The Panther Creek complex is one of the ten largest wind farms in the United States with an installed capacity of 457.5 megawatts (MW). E.ON has 1.4 GW of installed capacity in North America and continues to expand its presence throughout the United States including construction of the world’s largest wind farm, a 780-MW project in Roscoe, Texas.
Internet company Google Inc (Nasdaq: GOOG) is working to develop its own mirror technology for solar thermal power plants. The company’s renewable energy guru Bill Weihl spoke at the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit in San Francisco this week. He said the company is exploring new materials for mirrors and substrates in an effort to bring down solar thermal costs by a quarter or more. Google has invested in two solar thermal companies–BrightSource and e-Solar–but neither is involved in this project, according to Weihl.
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