Your daily dose of Photovoltaic Technology Developments and Solar News

3S Swiss Solar Systems was established in June 2002 as Swiss Sustainable Systems AG. The company’s purpose when founded was to produce top quality solar modules for integration in building construction. During the first year of trading, management recognised that the substantial specialist knowledge it had available on the manufacturing of solar modules could also be applied to the development of production lines. On this background, the company started work on the development of production lines for solar module manufacture, opening up a new business area. The end of 2003, saw the introduction of the S3620 laminator – at the time the largest in the world, and sales to a US-based customer. 3S Swiss Solar Systems laminators have the most homogeneous temperature distribution in the world, ensuring a short process time and very high process reliability.

Aescusoft GmbH Automation is your partner for instrument development and automation. We offer a comprehensive set of products and services for industrial and laboratory automation. Our services also include vision and motion system integration, general data acquisition, analysis and automated test applications

By applying our four decades of thin film on silicon experience to the manufacturing of solar modules, the total volume of solar panels manufactured each year can be vastly increased. At the same time, Applied Materials' products are aimed at reducing the cost per watt of energy produced, to become more competitive with current electricity generation.

baumann develops and produces turnkey automation systems for customers in various industries, like international automotive suppliers, electronics, domestic appliances, telecommunications, medical technology and pharmaceutical industry. Everything from one-stop the single robot cell up to the completely automated production line. Automation, rationalization and quality improvement are the most important criteria, which are used by baumann to develop flexible system solutions. Our focus is to be able to offer solutions that point the way ahead for the tasks of our customers in the electronics and automotive industry. The philosophy of our company is "to produce quality efficiently".

Bruker Optics is the leading manufacturer and worldwide supplier of Fourier Transform Infrared, Near Infrared and Raman spectrometers for various industries and applications. Bruker entered the field of FT-IR spectroscopy in 1974. The early instruments set new standards in research FT-IR with evacuable optics, high resolution and automatic range change. Since then, the product line has been continuously expanding with instruments suitable for both analytical and research applications with exceptional performance characteristics. Today, Bruker Optics is a part of the Bruker Corporation offers FT-IR, NIR, Raman, TD-NMR, TeraHertz spectrometers and imaging spectrographs for various markets and applications. Bruker Optics Inc has R&D and manufacturing centers in Ettlingen, Germany and The Woodlands, USA, supporting technical centers and offices throughout Europe, North and South America and Asia.

BTU International is a market-leading, global supplier of advanced thermal processing equipment to the alternative energy and electronics manufacturing markets. BTU equipment is used in solar cell, nuclear fuel and fuel cell manufacturing as well as in the production of printed circuit board assemblies and semiconductor packaging. BTU has operations in North America, MA, U.S. and Shanghai, China with direct sales and service in the USA, Asia and Europe.

Camstar is a leading provider of enterprise manufacturing execution and quality systems (MES). Camstar’s InSite application manages, monitors, and synchronizes manufacturing activities across globally distributed plants, and integrates them in real-time with core business processes. Rapid to implement, it provides the manufacturing control needed to help eliminate variability, scrap, rework, paperwork errors and redundant checks. As a result, manufacturers improve yields and product quality, shorten lead times and reach volumes quickly, respond to changing demand, and reduce the cost of compliance.

CeramTec North America is a wholly owned subsidiary of CeramTec AG, one of the world's largest technical ceramics engineering companies. CeramTec combines the capabilities of 10 state-of-the-art production facilities and nearly 2,500 ceramics specialists worldwide. CeramTec bases your solutions on over a century of applications and materials technology experience. Ceramic and hermetic solutions from our Laurens, South Carolina facility carry with them the security of ISO 9001:2000 certification.

The Christ Water Technology Group is a globally operating water technology group with production facilities and offices in Europe, Asia, Americas and Africa occupying leading positions in industrial and municipal water treatment. More than 1,400 employees in 46 companies worldwide design, plan, erect and maintain pure and ultrapure water plants as well as water recycling plants for industrial customers and also turnkey plants for the production of drinking water, treatment of waste water and desalination of sea water for
communal authorities. The Ultrapure Water division serves customers from the semiconductor, power generation and petrochemical industries, and also offers various other branches in the areas of industrial process and waste water complete solutions, including recycling.

Founded in 1966, Coherent has production and research facilities spanning the world, supplying everything from laser systems and components to laser measurement and control products and precision optics to over 80 countries. Markets for Coherent’s products include microelectronics (which includes semiconductor test and measurement, flat panel display manufacturing, and advanced packaging), scientific research and government programs, materials processing, and OEM components and instrumentation (which includes such areas as biotechnology, medical imaging and treatment).

Coveme was founded in Bologna, Italy in 1965. For many years the company specialized in the distribution of flexible insulation materials in Italy and Europe. In the mid 1990’s Coveme opened it’s own production plant in Gorizia and within a few years the company has become one of the major players in the manufacturing of engineered polyester films for high-end uses. Today the turn-over related to converted film raises over 70% of the company’s total with a clearly up-going tendency. Coveme is UNI EN ISO 9001:2000 certified.

Since entering the global photovoltaic market, Despatch solar cell manufacturing equipment has made a substantial impact. As in other industries, the Despatch photovoltaic brand is synonymous with quality and performance. Our products are consistently recognized for exceptional performance, process quality and maximum equipment up-time resulting in improved cost of ownership. The Despatch portfolio of solar cell manufacturing equipment improves and optimizes in-line solar cell manufacturing.

Dow Corning was established in 1943 specifically to explore the potential of silicones. Founded as a joint venture between Corning Glass Works (now Corning, Incorporated) and The Dow Chemical Company, today Dow Corning provides performance-enhancing solutions to serve the diverse needs of more than 20,000 customers worldwide, offering more than 7,000 products and services. As the photovoltaic industry assumes an increasingly important role in meeting the world's energy needs, Dow Corning is making a difference by helping PV producers grow and succeed. We are investing to continue to make a difference by expanding our portfolio of total solution packages for cell manufacturing, module assembly and installation.

EFD, Inc., is a leading designer and manufacturer of precision dispensing systems that apply accurate, consistent amounts of the adhesives, sealants, lubricants and other assembly fluids used in virtually every manufacturing process.

When companies are able to put the same amount of fluid in the same place every time, they gain a competitive advantage through higher productivity, improved quality, and lower production costs. Since 1963, EFD has helped thousands of companies achieve these benefits with benchtop dispensers for manual assembly processes, dispense valves for automated production lines, XYZ dispensing robots, and the highest quality dispensing tips, syringe barrels and other disposable components in the industry.  EFD products also include high-quality solder pastes for improving productivity in surface mount and electromechanical manufacturing processes, and the unique MicroCoat system, which is changing the way lubricants are applied in the metal stamping industry.

Evergreen Solar develops, manufactures and sells solar power products, primarily solar panels that provide reliable and environmentally clean electric power throughout the world. The three markets the Company serves are: wireless power, rural electrification and grid-connected applications. The Company expects to exploit its proprietary and patented technology to produce distinctive products, to reduce manufacturing costs through lower materials use and streamlined processes, and to manufacture internationally for global market penetration. The solar panels produced by Evergreen Solar incorporate proprietary crystalline silicon technology known as String Ribbon wafer production, which uses approximately half the silicon and avoids the sawing of conventional approaches.

Eyelit's mission has always been to deliver and support with world-class customer service, easy-to-use, high-quality manufacturing management solutions that increase productivity and worker performance and the bottom line for our customers. Originally an integration software provider, Eyelit leveraged deep production experience to develop an innovative technology that enabled any legacy MES to quickly connect to other factory and ERP systems. Products that greatly enhanced the performance of MES with asset management, product costing, and quality management soon followed. Eyelit continues to advance manufacturing efficiency, even in today's quickly moving, on-demand world and across global supply chain networks. Having been architected from day one for integration and flexibility, our MES/platform independent products are uniquely suited to coordinate and manage operations, regardless of individual factory systems, across a broader scope than a single factory. Proving the theory that local factory execution and global coordination create more effective order execution and fulfillment, we will continue to deliver advanced efficiency tools—and real value—to the evolving manufacturing industry.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE conducts research on the technology needed to supply energy efficiently and on an environmentally sound basis in industrialised, threshold and developing countries. To this purpose, the Institute develops systems, components, materials and processes in the areas of the thermal use of solar energy, solar building, solar cells, electrical power supplies, chemical energy conversion, energy storage and the rational use of energy. The Institute's work ranges from fundamental scientific research relating to solar energy applications, through the development of production technology and prototypes, to the construction of demonstration systems. The Institute plans, advises and provides know-how and technical facilities as services.

At GCL Silicon, we envision a green future where clean energy competes on cost with polluting fossil fuels such as coal and oil. Our mission is to bring green power to life by becoming one of the world's most cost-efficient suppliers of high-quality polysilicon and wafers to the solar energy industry. We are challenging ourselves everyday to produce an increasing volume of more affordable and higher-purity polysilicon, the key raw material required for the vast majority of today's solar power generation, to meet a huge market demand. To accomplish this, we're building out economies of scale through our cost-efficient, China-based manufacturing facilities, exploring sources of lower-cost raw materials, employing an experienced team of scientists and engineers and investing strategically in research and development.In addition to our successful polysilicon production, we engage in solar wafer sales to some of the industry's leading solar companies. At present, our wafers are produced through tolling arrangements with third-party manufacturers who create high-quality wafers using our polysilicon. Upon completion of our planned expansion to 24,000 MT of annual polysilicon production capacity by the end of 2010 and 2.7GW of annual wafer production capacity by end of 2011, we believe we will be one of the largest polysilicon and wafer producers in the world in terms of production capacity.