pvMB 2/20/19: Community solar coming to Kewanee, Dalian Linton produces a 4-meter mono ingot… and more!

Dalian Linton grows a 4-meter monocrystalline ingot – How do you celebrate good news? Call your folks? Pop some champagne? Go out for a nice meal. Well then you and Dalian Linton are very differently minded, as global PV maker LONGi’s supplier of ingot growth furnaces celebrated its new partnership with Linton Crystal Technologies with the successful growth of a 4-meter (12′) monocrystalline ingot, the largest crystal grown on site by Dalian Linton. The two companies are partnering up to launch a new Research and Development Center. Source: Linton Crystal Technologies

Community solar coming to Kewanee – Sunpin Solar Development is bringing community solar to Kewanee County, Illinois, 25 MW of it, to be specific. The project will be located in the Lininger Industrial Park and will generate enough power each year for 3,900 homes. Source: Sunpin Solar

Florida Dolphin tours utilize solar “Squid Boat” – “Designed and built by Billy Litmer and an MIT educated Naval Architect and Principal Engineer, the SQUID has two BMW batteries that can be recharged by shore power or often run by nothing more than the sun that is beating down on the boat while it follows the dolphins. Ultra-lightweight Sunflare solar panels made it possible to coat the roof of the viewing deck in solar panels that provide the minimal 2 kilowatts of power needed to power the boat as it slowly cruises. The first boat of its kind, the SQUID has earned Coast Guard Certification for commercial use.” To see the SQUID in action, check out this video. Source: Asylum Public Relations

Power contract signed for 149 MW Wisconsin project – In the most perfectly Wisconsin story this reporter has ever covered, Dairyland Power Cooperative, yes you read that correctly, has finalized a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Ranger Power for the proposed 149 MW Badger State Solar Project. Through the PPA, Dairyland will purchase all of the power generated by the project, enough to power an estimated 20,000 homes. The project, if approved is expected to begin construction in 2020 and become operational in 2022. Source: Dairyland Power Cooperative

Hanwha Q CELLS becomes official solar partner of LA Dodgers – In an effort to broaden the profile of renewable energy in the state that has more solar than any other by a large margin, Hanwha Q CELLS has entered into a multi-year sponsorship deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. As per the agreement, Q CELLS will become a visible brand at the Dodger Stadium, displaying the company logo on in-field signage during home games, while also participating as a partner on promotional campaigns. This is not the company’s first venture into the sports world, as Hanwha Q CELLS also sponsors RB Leipzig in Germany, and the Hanwha Q CELLS women’s golf team in the U.S., South Korea, and Japan. Source: Hanwha Q CELLS

Solar developer plans to fight Wisconsin utility in court on third-party ownership – “The standoff between a Wisconsin utility and solar developer intensified this week with a petition filed by Eagle Point Solar asking state regulators to force We Energies to proceed with an interconnection request for its project. The March 6 filing also asks the Wisconsin Public Service Commission to declare that Eagle Point would not be acting as a public utility in the third-party-owned solar project it was developing with the city of Milwaukee. Eagle Point president Barry Shear said he sees a long legal battle ahead, possibly ending up in the state Supreme Court as did his fight with a utility in Iowa, where the court ruled in favor of Eagle Point and the concept of third-party ownership.” Source: Indiana DG