Your daily dose of photovoltaic technology developments and solar news

In the words of the inimitable Yogi Berra, “it’s déjà vu all over again,” as yet another announcement has been made by a solar company about plans for a new PV module assembly plant in the United States. This time, Solar Power, Inc., an up-and-coming vertically integrated firm based in Roseville, CA (with module manufacturing in Shenzhen, China), will build a 50MW factory on its home turf in Sacramento County. A big reason for the move is an initial pledge of $24.7 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds coming SPI’s way, in the form of an RZFB, or Recovery Zone Facility Bond, from the county. SPI exec VP Jeff Pontius filled me in on some of the details.

Kyocera Solar and Heliene Canada are among those companies hoping to tap into one of the fastest-growing markets on Planet Photovoltaica--North America. Joining the increasing number of firms pursuing a distributed-manufacturing model, each outfit has recently announced plans for building module-making facilities in hotbed areas for renewables--Kyocera in San Diego, CA, and Heliene in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario—with an eye toward getting product to market later this year. Although both plants will be manufacturing crystalline-silicon-type modules, it turns out the two enterprises have differences and commonalities in their approaches. In recent interviews with PV Tech, executives from both companies shared more details about the respective factories.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson likes to say that his state is “becoming the center of North America’s solar industry,” but California, Ontario, and others might take issue with his understandable boosterism. Still, you’ll get no argument that the so-called “Land of Enchantment” can lay claim to being among the leaders in the solar revolution taking hold across the country.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators may be cellar dwellers in the National Hockey League, but Ontario has its eye on the clean-energy puck and is gaining momentum as a leading destination for solar project development and manufacturing. The provincial government’s passage of the Green Energy and Green Economy Act in May, which includes a potentially lucrative feed-in tariff and special incentives for homegrown system components, has triggered a veritable gold rush across much of the photovoltaic—and other alternative energy—value chain as companies scramble to take advantage of what’s being called “North America's first comprehensive guaranteed pricing structure for renewable electricity production.” ATS Automation--and its new Photowatt Ontario unit--is one of those companies.

The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico may be known for its great natural beauty, gifted beisbol players, alluring rums, and effervescent musica, but the “self-governing unincorporated territory of the United States” has also built up a fairly thriving commercial sector in pharmaceuticals and other areas. With the construction of the islands’ first solar module factory by Pevafersa America, you can add photovoltaics to the mix.

Few tests reveal more about solar panels' comparative conversion efficiencies, power outputs, and the like than side-by-side performance evaluations. When Manufacturer A's monocrystalline model meets Manufacturer B's thin-film device in a cajon a cajon competition and the data are acquired and analyzed, no amount of marketing spin and handwaving can overcome findings from that kind of real-world throwdown.