PV Society News

• Solar Power Lands $24.7M in Recovery Funds
  
  Staff, March 9, 2010
  Solar Power Inc. plans to use the funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for a solar-panel manufacturing facility and solar farm in Sacramento County.
  
• Prime Sun Sells 25 MW PV Power Plant in Italy
  
  Staff, March 9, 2010
  Prime Sun Power has sold the first of several solar projects totaling 100 MW.
  
• SunPower, K6 Partner on Italian Solar Power Plants
  
  Staff, March 9, 2010
  SunPower has joined with solar investment/development firm K6 S.a.S. to build two 1 MW PV solar power plants in the Puglia region of Italy.
  
• Innovalight Names Johnson CFO
  
  Staff, March 8, 2010
    Crystalline silicon solar cell technology provider Innovalight has named Michael Johnson CFO.
  
• XsunX Close to Commercializing Thin-Film PV Technology
  
  Staff, March 8, 2010
  XsunX reports it has created a hybrid co-evaporation processing chamber to produce CIGS layers.
  
• Yingli Green Energy Announces Monocrystalline Manufacturing Expansion
  
  Staff, March 8, 2010
  Yingli Green Energy plans to increase production of monocrystalline ingots, wafers, cells and modules with 300 MW of new production lines at its headquarters in China.
  
• BioSolar Expands Line of BioBacksheets for PV Modules
  
  Staff, March 8, 2010
  BioSolar has released new BioBacksheets for conventional c-Si PV module manufacturing, now including a single-layer premium version.
  
• Showa Shell Solar Establishes Base in Germany
  
  Staff, March 5, 2010
  Showa Shell Solar has changed its name to Solar Frontier, striking out into new frontiers in Munich, where it will open its first European office this year.
  
• Suntech Shipments, Profits Up in 2009
  
  Staff, March 4, 2010
  Suntech Power Holdings has reported a 42% increase in shipments over the prior year, pointing to efforts to expand its presence in Europe, the United States, and several emerging markets.
  
• Heliovolt Builds Rooftop Solar Test Bed
  
  David Lammers, News Editor, March 4, 2010
    Heliovolt has put its CIGS-based arrays up on a rooftop test bed in Austin, Texas, alongside products from five of its competitors, including BP, First Solar, Solyndra, SunTech and Wurth. The test bed purports to gather data on real-world energy yields compared with lab data and the various companies' claimed "nameplate" performance.
  
• Magnolia Solar Receives $1M Award for Nanostructure Thin-Film Cells
  
  Staff, March 4, 2010
  Magnolia Solar Corp. has received a $1M award to collaborate with Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) on advanced thin-film solar cells.
  
• LDK Solar Settles Securities Class Action Suit
  
  Staff, March 3, 2010
  LDK Solar settles securities lawsuit after two years of litigation in the U.S. District Court of Northern California.
  
• Kyocera to Manufacture Solar Modules in San Diego
  
  Staff, March 3, 2010
  Solar solutions provider Kyocera expansion of it U.S. module assembly plant aims to further the company's goal of reaching 1 GW annual capacity worldwide.
  
• Four U.S. Solar Production Facilities in the Works
  
  Staff, March 3, 2010
  The Deptartment of Energy reports that corporations are planning solar product production plants in Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Oregon.
  
• Kyocera Steps Up Annual Solar Cell Production Target
  
  Staff, March 2, 2010
  Multicrystalline silicon solar cell manufacturer Kyocera Corp. has announced increasing its annual production goal to 1 GW by 2013.
  
• Trina Solar Establishes EU Regional Headquarters
  
  Staff, March 2, 2010
  Trina Solar Ltd. has established its European Union headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, aiming to expand its European presence.
  
• SolarWorld Enters Joint Venture With Qatar Foundation
  
  Staff, March 1, 2010
  SolarWorld has acquired a 29% stake in a joint venture firm that will establish the first polysilicon production facility on the Arabian Peninsula.
  
• Global Solar Energy's Thin-Film CIGS Achieves Record Efficiency
  
  Staff, March 1, 2010
    A module produced by Global Solar Energy has been certified by the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory to have a 13.2% aperture area efficiency.
  
• Nanotube Thermocells Found to Be Promising Energy Source
  
  Staff, February 26, 2010
  Data published by the American Chemical Society shows that thermocells based on carbon nanotube electrodes could be used to generate energy from chemical plants, cars and solar-cell farms.
  
• Solar Industry Faces Stiff Price Drops
  
  David Lammers, News Editor, February 25, 2010
    The solar industry faces steep price declines again in 2010, although prices will drop at a more moderate pace than last year, predicted iSuppli. While installed watts will grow by 64% this year, the market research firm said module prices will decline by an estimated 20%, following a 37.8% drop in 2009.