Your daily dose of Photovoltaic Technology Developments and Solar News

Suntech Power Holdings has reacted to the seasonal slowdown and tight credit conditions for customers by halting planned capacity expansions and cutting capital spending from US$300 million in 2008 to only US$80 million in 2009. Suntech reiterated that it would reach a nominal capacity of 1GW by the end of 2008. However, the company said that further planned increases would be halted for 2009. Previously, Suntech had planned to reach a nominal capacity of 1.4GW in 2009 and 2GW in 2010. Nominal capacity reached in 3Q08 was 750MW.

Sputnik Engineering has announced its intention to open a new production facility in Biel, Switzerland next year so that it can meet the increasing demand of its string inverter series SolarMax S.

Optomec has received significant orders for its Aerosol Jet Solar Lab system, which was introduced earlier this year. The Solar Lab is a process development platform that lets customers define and develop improved collector line patterns for current and next generation high-efficiency solar cells by printing much finer collector lines than is presently possible with traditional screen-printing methods.

Amtech Systems has signed a a licensing agreement with South Korean toolmaker PST to market PST's proprietary phosphorus silicate glass dry etch processing system and to develop and manufacture additional models for use with Amtech's existing solar photovoltaic manufacturing equipment product lines.

Sunovia Energy Technologies, Inc. and EPIR Technologies, Inc. have successfully demonstrated the optical down-conversion for increased solar cell energy efficiency. This proves to be a significant advancement for the maximization of solar cell efficiency and will play a distinctive role in the commercialization of the companies high-efficiency solar cells. Dr. Jacqueline Johnson completed the optical down-conversion during her employment at EPIR, under the direction of Dr. Paul E. Hausgen, for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate program.

Manz Automation, a solar technology provider, has published its revenue figures for the first nine months of 2008. The company was able to significantly increase both its revenues and earnings in the first nine months of the fiscal year, tripling its revenue figures to $159.1 million. The solar division significantly drove the growth where revenues were $88.81 million, compared to last years $32.64 million.