Your daily dose of Photovoltaic Technology Developments and Solar News

In a dual project announcement, First Solar has announced that it is to provide all engineering and installation services for the construction of a 2MW rooftop solar PV power project in Fontana, California for Southern California Edison (SCE). The second announcement is for a 20-year power purchase agreement for energy generated by a further planned Blythe-based power plant. First Solar’s construction of the Blythe facility, which will have a minimum output of 7.5MW with an optional maximum of 21MW, is expected to begin in 2009. Read more >>

Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) has received approval from the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) to start construction on three separate utility-scale solar power projects in the state. The construction of these projects will make Florida the second largest supplier of utility-generated solar power in the U.S. Read more >>

Amorphous and microcrystalline thin-film solar module manufacturing start-up Sencera International Corporation has announced plans to build a 38MW module plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S. Sencera will invest $36.8 million and plans to use its proprietary ‘Viper’ plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technology to reach the 38MW capacity by 2011, creating 65 jobs in the process. Read more >>

A groundbreaking ceremony for the new Applied Materials Operations Center at Changi North Industrial Park in Singapore took place earlier today, and saw the attendance of several Applied Materials executives, including Mike Splinter, company President and CEO. Chairman of the Singapore Economic Development Board Lim Siong Guan and U.S. Ambassador Patricia Herbold were also present for the ceremony. Read more >>

Entegris has established a wholly-owned subsidiary in Bangalore, India to provide support of the company’s product portfolio for the photovoltaics and microelectronics industries. Entitled Entegris Materials Integrity India Pvt. Ltd., the division will be led by Badarish Appanna, and will incorporate support for activities such as wafer and mask handling and shipping, subsystem and fluid handling products and finished electric products. Read more >>

Announced at the 2008 Florida Summit on Global Climate Change in Miami, U.S.A., Florida Power & Light Company has said it will build 110MW of solar power plants in the State. The company said the plans accelerate commitments the company made at the Clinton Global Initiative in September 2007... Read more >>

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Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (REC) has announced plans to invest NOK 13 billion, approximately $2.5 billion in a new manufacturing complex to be built in Singapore that will include an initial capacity of 740MW of multicrystalline solar wafers, 550MW of solar cells and 590MW of solar modules starting in the first quarter of 2010. Full capacity is expected to be reached before 2012, and is being treated as ‘Phase 1’ of several planned developments, with the decision for the next expansion phase said to be made in 2009, according to REC. Read more >>

During the Intersolar exhibition held last week in Munich, Germany, SCHOTT Solar announced plans to accelerate the capacity targets of its parabolic trough technology (Concentrated Solar Power) by the end of 2009 to approximately 1GW, and also announced a target of 1GW of annual capacity for PV production by 2012. Read more >>

Suniva has selected Gwinnett County, Georgia, USA, as its initial solar cell manufacturing center with plans to have an initial capacity of 32MW on its first line and plans to ramp to 100MW in the next two years. Read more >>