Your daily dose of Photovoltaic Technology Developments and Solar News

Spire Corporation has received a contract from Bogoroditsk Plant of Techno-Chemical Products (BTCP), a chemical company, to provide a photovoltaic module assembly line for the company's operations in Russia. The semi-automated crystalline silicon module manufacturing line will be capable of producing up to 12MW of solar modules per year, according to Spire. Located in the Tula region of Russia, this will be BTCP’s first PV operation. Read more >>

XsunX has signed an agreement with Praxair for the supply of bulk industrial gases for its new multi-megawatt thin film photovoltaic (TFPV) solar manufacturing facility near Portland, Oregon. Read more >>

In an effort to provide greater transparency to the photovoltaics manufacturing industry, PHOTON Consulting has launched a paid subscription-based service, tracking high-purity silicon prices, both spot and contract, dubbed the PHOTON Consulting Silicon Price Index (PCSPI). Read more >>

The opening of Dow Corning's $3 million, 27,000 square foot Solar Solutions Application Center in Freeland, Michigan, USA, is designed to develop, evaluate and produce pilot quantities of materials designed specifically for the silicon PV industry across various PV technologies. Read more >>

SunPower plans to be the first silicon wafer-based photovoltaic producer to build and ramp a single 1GW facility with the announcement that it will start construction of Fab 3 in Malaysia later in 2008. The two-phase capacity expansion will see the first phase come on-stream in 2010 with 14 solar cell production lines with a nameplate capacity of 40 megawatts each. Phase two will see Fab 3 top 1GW in annual capacity, according to SunPower. Read more >>

As part of wider plan to leverage advanced research at IBM to significantly reduce the cost-per-watt of solar photovoltaics from silicon cells, thin-film and concentrator photovoltaics (CPV), IBM scientists are developing a more powerful CPV technology that they claim could lead to a significant breakthrough for utility-scale applications. Read more >>

ReneSola has signed a six-year 525MW wafer supply agreement with Gintech Energy Corporation of Taiwan. The supply agreement is expected to commence by mid-2008. "The recent wafer supply agreement with Gintech further demonstrates our commitment to expanding ReneSola's reach within key markets and strengthens our base of long-term customers," said Mr. Xianshou Li, ReneSola's Chief Executive Officer. Read more >>

On June 12th in Munich, 1,000 companies will be exhibiting products and services for the solar industry. More companies than ever before will be presenting their solar products and services on an exhibition area of 76,000sqm – an increase of 120% on last year. Exhibitors will be directed into the areas of solar thermal technology, photovoltaics and solar architecture. Read more >>

Sunfilm AG has placed its second turnkey ‘SunFab’ tandem junction thin-film line order with Applied Materials. The first line (60MW) is due to come on stream in July 2008 using a tandem junction cell for greater conversion efficiencies, using ultra-large 5.7m² glass substrates. The second line is expected to become operational in approximately one year from the start-up of the first line. Read more >>

Canadian Solar has said that it has converted a solar cell production line to use 100 percent upgraded metallurgical grade (UMG) silicon for an expected output of 30-40MW of its low-cost PV ‘e-Modules’ in 2008, primarily for the European and U.S. markets. The UMG line became operational in April with approximately 1MW so far produced. Read more >>