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Complementing the company’s installation of a turnkey PV module manufacturing line, Spire Corp. has been commissioned to supply US$54.9 million of solar cells to the Federal Prison Industries, Inc., also known as UNICOR, at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Otisville, New York. The aim is for the FCI Otisville inmates to be trained to use the module line, thereby preparing them for employment in the growing solar industry, while the modules manufactured at the plant will be used in government installations.

Spire announced that it will postpone its third-quarter 2008 earnings announcement previously scheduled for today. The solar manufacturing equipment and turnkey module production line company said it is delaying the earnings announcement because it is evaluating the timing of revenue recognition with respect to a single multielement contract with one customer and analyzing its impact, if any, on prior periods.

Spire Corporation and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have signed an agreement that calls for Spire to develop a microcrack detection technique for silicon solar cells and wafers in hopes of decreasing the cost and improving the reliability of solar cell and module manufacturers’ PV modules.

Spire Corporation recently announced its new contract with Hanwha Chemical Corporation, located in Seoul, Korea, to provide a Spi-Line 30C complete turnkey factory to produce up to 30MW per year. Spire has over 25 years of experience in developing solar cell processing technology, which is rooted in Spire’s turnkey cell line. The agreement marks Hanwha’s entrance into the solar market with hopes to make it one of the most modern cell factories in Korea.

XsunX is to use Spire Corporation and Shuttleworth, Inc. for various integration systems at its first 25MW thin film PV production line. Spire Corporation will supply solar module laminating, wiring and test equipment for use in solar module assembly process, while Shuttleworth will provide the material handling and automation systems for all process integration steps.

Wright Williams & Kelly has entered into a strategic agreement with Spire to provide the solar manufacturing company's clients with what the partners call an "unprecedented view" of production costs and return on investment through the use of the cost modeling firm's Factory Commander analysis toolset.

The module manufacturing arm of GreenBrilliance, GreenBrilliance Energy Private Ltd, based in India has placed a turnkey solar module manufacturing line order with Spire Corporation. The semi-automated crystalline module manufacturing line is to be capable of producing up to 12MW of solar modules per year.

ChengDu Tianwei New Energy PV Module Co. Ltd. (Tianwei) has selected stringing and tabbing systems from Spire as well as multiple ‘Spi-Assembler’ 6000 systems to fully automate the soldering of individual solar cells into strings ready for busing. Tianwei is automating these production steps as part of its plans to increase capacity of its solar cell products.

Trina Solar has placed a multi-year, multi-system contract for Spire’s ‘Spi-Sun’ Simulator 4600 Single Long Pulse (4600 SLP) systems. The 4600 SLP has recently been purchased by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Underwriters Laboratories.

Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. has selected Spire Corporation’s ‘Spi-Sun Simulator’ 4600 Single Long Pulse systems for photovoltaic module testing operations in both the United States and China.