Your daily dose of photovoltaic technology developments and solar news

Via its majority share holding in PrimeStar Solar, GE has outlined its R&D efforts with CdTe thin-film technology. GE said that hundreds of technologists in Germany, China, India and the United States are working on solar technologies. The company noted that it was utilizing its four Global Research operations to address each of the challenges required to bring a new CdTe thin-film product to market.

The German government solar energy official, Dr. Karin Freier told a Euroforum conference that solar module installations reached 3GW in 2009, according to Reuters. The official figures have yet to be released, with many industry observers believing the figures are being withheld until proposed feed-in tariff cuts gain full authorization. Reuters quoted Freier as saying that more than 5GW could be installed in Germany this year as the race to beat the tariff cuts that are to start July 1st occurs.

Demand for residential PV systems in the second-half of 2009 enabled Centrosolar to post record revenue and earnings figures in the fourth quarter and helped restore revenue for the year of €308.7 million, compared to €332.6 million in 2008. Approximately 50% of sales came from outside Germany and the company expects revenue growth of between 10 and 20% in 2010. Module production at its new plant in Wismar, Germany will expand production from 110MW in 2009 to 150MW in 2010. Centrosolar claimed that it success in the small roof-integrated systems market in France has led the company to become the market leader in the country.

Although a new long-range forecast from Bloomberg New Energy Finance believes wind will be the main technology used through 2030, solar photovoltaics is expected to grow considerably in that timeframe and help contribute to renewable energy generating 22% of global energy production by 2020 and 31% by 2030. According to the report annual global expenditure on renewable energy projects will increase from US$90 billion in 2009 to US$150 billion in 2020. Given current policy targets from countries around the world, expenditure is projected to increase to US$200 billion annually by 2030.

The Holst Centre research organization has built a new proprietary roll-to-roll (R2R) sintering platform for fast, low-temperature curing of printed conductive structures. The group says this tool is a next step in the creation of a complete equipment set for R2R manufacturing, which will enable the center and its industrial partners to further advance such technologies for the manufacturing of organic PV, flexible OLEDs, and smart packaging.

Lower house politicians in the Czech Republic have now approved a law to cut the incentives for solar energy production in a bid to control the expected rise in solar installations. The Czech Republic's Prime Minister, Jan Fischer, first called for the cuts earlier this month.

As part of its module production expansion plans for 2010, Scheuten Solar has placed a follow-on order with Robert Bürkle for its multiopening Ypsator module lamination tool. The machine will be delivered and commissioned in the second quarter of 2010. According to Bürkle, Scheuten Solar will be able to produce a module every 45 seconds on two Bürkle lines from the middle of this year.

The largest solar power plant in Taiwan to date will use c-Si PV modules from Suntech, nearly doubling Taiwan’s current installed capacity. The 4.7MW plant is being built for Taiwan Power Co. and developed by Fortune Electric in Young'an, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

A new utility-scale PV project developer, Agile Energy, has received an undisclosed investment from Good Energies in a Series A round of funding. Agile Energy was founded by Glen Davis and Robert Morgan, veteran energy executives. The company said that it would focus on developing grid-connected, ground-mounted solar projects in North America with generating capacity over 5MW. Agile Energy claims to have a pipeline of projects totaling 400MW and would use PV or CPV technologies with suppliers selected on a competitive basis.

Struggling PV module start-up Day4 Energy saw fourth-quarter revenue reach CDN$36.6 million, an increase of 175% from the prior quarter and 120% increase over the same period in 2008. Full-year revenues for 2009 were CDN$60.0 million, compared to CDN$76.8 million for the prior year. The company was forced to reduce its workforce in early 2009 and shift module production to Jabil in Poland.