Your daily dose of Photovoltaic Technology Developments and Solar News

The Linde Group has said that it has recently been awarded major new multi-million US-dollar gas supply contracts with three thin film start-ups in China. The Linde Group’s local subsidiary, Linde LienHwa has been awarded contracts by Tianwei Baoding, Hangzhou Amplesun Solar and ENN Solar. Linde said that the new wins in China equate to 50 percent market share in China. The company will supply large volumes of silane and hydrogen gas to each new customer.

Suntech Power Holdings' first thin-film line using Applied Materials' ‘SunFab’ turnkey technology will complete installation by the end of the year, noted Dr. Stuart Wenham, Suntech’s Chief Technology Officer, during a conference call with financial analysts.

Suntech Power Holdings has reacted to the seasonal slowdown and tight credit conditions for customers by halting planned capacity expansions and cutting capital spending from US$300 million in 2008 to only US$80 million in 2009. Suntech reiterated that it would reach a nominal capacity of 1GW by the end of 2008. However, the company said that further planned increases would be halted for 2009. Previously, Suntech had planned to reach a nominal capacity of 1.4GW in 2009 and 2GW in 2010. Nominal capacity reached in 3Q08 was 750MW.

In September 2008 IBC SOLAR’s “Renova” power plant connected to the Spanish electricity network. The project is located at two different Spanish sites: Castuera and Valverde. Since the beginning of 2008, IBC SOLAR’s subsidiary FOTOVOLTAICA IBC S.A. has installed over 20,000 solar panels with a total power generation of 4.6MWp at the two sites.

ProLogis has announced plans to install its first one-megawatt PV system in Japan at its ProLogis Parc Zama I, a five-story distribution facility of more than 1.2 million square metres. Located in the city of Zama, the PV system has an anticipated completion date for sometime in the second quarter of 2009.

Signet Solar has produced and shipped its first MW of panels from its Mochau, Germany manufacturing facility only one month after it became the first licensee of Applied Material’s SunFab thin-film modules. The first shipments are being sent to Hannover-based alfsolar Vertriebsgesellschaft GmbH. Other Signet customers include Phoenix Solar AG, Soleg GmbH, Goldbeck Solar GmbH and SolarMarkt AG.

WACKER SCHOTT Solar is expanding its wafer production capacity to meet what it described as ‘huge demand’ with the construction of a new plant in Jena, Germany. The new facility is intended to help the joint venture company meet long-term supply contracts already secured through 2017. ‘Fab Jena 3’, will occupy an existing building at SCHOTT AG’s premises in Jena, the companies said.

Sputnik Engineering has announced its intention to open a new production facility in Biel, Switzerland next year so that it can meet the increasing demand of its string inverter series SolarMax S.

Satcon Technology Corporation has signed a three-year, 180MW agreement with Samsung C&T Corporation. Satcon will supply Samsung with its PowerGate Plus inverters for its own solar power plant expansion around the world.

Optomec has received significant orders for its Aerosol Jet Solar Lab system, which was introduced earlier this year. The Solar Lab is a process development platform that lets customers define and develop improved collector line patterns for current and next generation high-efficiency solar cells by printing much finer collector lines than is presently possible with traditional screen-printing methods.