First Solar Sets Efficiency Record: 17.3 Percent

Greentech Media
First Solar today announced that it has produced a cadmium telluride solar cell with a 17.3% efficiency, shattering a ten year old record set by NREL [16.7%]. (...) The solar cell won't go into production soon, but might help ease some concerns that cadmium telluride is approaching an efficiency ceiling. (...)
The average efficiency, however, is comparatively on the low side. First Solar boosted its average efficiency to 11.7%: that's up from the 11.1% efficiency for the same period the year before but below the efficiencies (14 to 20%) seen in crystalline silicon solar panels and 12% plus efficiencies seen in copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar modules. Module efficiency is typically a few points lower than cell efficiency.

Italy Passes 7,000 MW of Total Installed Solar PV

Renewable Energy News
The interactive web page Atlasole created by Italy's Gestore dei Servizi Energetici (GSE) indicates that the country surpassed 7,000 MW of total installed solar photovoltaics (...) In 2009, Italy became the world's second largest market for annual installations of solar PV capacity, a position it held in 2010 and will likely hold again in 2011. Italy has quickly overtaken total installed capacity leaders Spain and Japan. (...) In 2010, solar PV generated 1.9 TWh of electricity. Solar PV currently installed may generate as much as 10 TWh in 2011 or three percent of Italy's 320 TWh annual consumption.

Photovoltaics cause prices to drop on the European Electricity Exchange

www.photon-international.com/newsletter/document/50268.pdf
Saturday, July 16, 2011, is a date that will be remembered in the history of
the German electricity sector. On that Saturday afternoon, electricity prices on the spot market of the European Electricity Exchange collapsed to the low level of electricity rates that are available at night. Buyers paid only 2.5 euro cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity delivered between 2 and 3 pm. Electricity rates are usually twice as high as the (low) night rate at this time of day on weekends in Germany.

European PV markets to decline in 2011 despite PV price decreases

Solarbuzz
Solarbuzz announced a new report which (...) predicts that the aggregate European PV market will contract 14% in 2011 from 2010 levels, and that Italy will replace Germany as the continent's largest market by 2015.(...) The report estimates that crystalline silicon (c-Si) module prices from manufacturers reached record low prices of 0.75 €/Wp in the first half of 2011, as a result of excess inventories spreading upstream.
(...) Solarbuzz notes that the 169% growth of European PV markets in 2010 was driven by Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic, which represented 89% of the continent's demand [and due to] Italy's generous tariff rates, its market share will rise to 39% by 2015.
The report also predicts that over the next five years, the residential segment of European PV markets will double its share, while investor's groups fall, and commerical and agricultural customers remain the largest market segment.

Solar-Powered Computer from Samsung Coming This Year

CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views
Samsung has developed a new computer that is solar-powered! It is the Samsung NC215S netbook and it will be the first computer of its kind. The power will come from a solar panel embedded in the lid.
The computer needs 2 hours of sunlight exposure to get 1 hour of working battery life and the battery fully charged will reportedly last about 14 or so hours. The 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 pixel display is appropriately designed for use in direct sunlight (of course, an important feature for a computer that lives on sunlight).

Concurso para as fotovoltaicas fecha este mês

Económico
O concurso para centrais fotovoltaicas, lançado no final do ano passado pelo Governo de José Sócrates, só deverá ficar concluído este mês. A Direcção Geral de Geologia e Energia (DGGE), liderada por José Perdigoto, prepara-se para colocar no mercado, no próximo dia 29, os últimos 16 lotes de dois megawatts (MW) cada, naquela que é já a terceira tentativa para encerrar este processo.
Caso seja bem sucedida, a DGGE prevê um encaixe adicional de 16 milhões de euros com a operação, a somar aos 94 milhões de euros já arrecadados pelo Estado. O grosso deste montante (86,5 milhões de euros) transitou de 2010, sendo os remanescentes 7,5 milhões de euros fruto da segunda fase de contratualização, em Março deste ano, durante a qual foram entregues apenas sete lotes, de dois MW cada. O anterior Executivo tinha estimado para a totalidade dos 75 lotes (de dois MW cada) uma receita entre 80 e 100 milhões de euros

e2p - base de dados de energias endógenas de Portugal

APREN
A APREN acabou de lançar um portal para acesso à Base de dados de fontes renováveis de energia em Portugal.