Your daily dose of Photovoltaic Technology Developments and Solar News

juwi solar GmbH, a renewable energy project company, has signed a letter of intent with CIGS thin film PV manufacturer DayStar Technologies to support the test, evaluation and field installations of its PV modules for large-scale utility power plants. Upon a successful collaboration, juwi solar will commit to purchasing up to 25 percent of DayStar's production through 2011. Read more >>

With silane (monosilane, SiH₄) demand growing by more than 25 percent per annum due to its ubiquitous use across electronics and photovoltaic industries, Air Liquide is to further expand production from 500 tons per year to 2,000 tons per year via a new production plant being built and expected to be operational in 2010. Read more >>

The United States Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has purchased Spire Corporation’s ‘SPI-SUN SIMULATOR’ 4600SLP, the company’s latest model of its Single Long Pulse Solar Simulator technology. The need for the technology is due to the increasing trend in photovolatic module sizes. Read more >>

NexPower has selected BOC Lien Hwa (BOCLH), a joint venture between The Linde Group and Taiwan’s Lien Hwa Corporation, to supply the main high purity gases for its new large substrate thin film PV plant that is expected to begin operations by the second quarter of 2008. Read more >>

According to a paper published in Advanced Materials entitled “High Photovoltaic Performance of Inkjet Printed Polymer:Fullerene Blends” by Dr. Stelios A. Choulis, Claudia N. Hoth, Dr. Pavel Schilinsky and Dr. Christoph J. Brabec, all from Konarka Technologies, the company is claiming to be the first to produce inkjet printed organic bulk heterojunction solar cells. Read more >>

SCHOTT Solar has broken ground on its first phase 200,000 square foot facility in the Mesa del Sol region of Albuquerque, New Mexico that will produce photovoltaic modules and receivers for concentrated solar thermal power plants (CSP). Read more >>

With long lead-time thin film equipment such as plasma deposition, sputtering and lasers systems already ordered, XsunX has said that it is in the final stages of site selection for its thin film solar module manufacturing plant to be based in Oregon, USA. Read more >>

Silfab SpA, a start-up solar grade polysilicon producer, currently planning its first plant in Borgofranco d’Ivrea, Italy has awarded the bulk gas supply and services contract for the plant to Rivoira SpA, the Italian subsidiary of Praxair. 
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Canadian Solar (CSI) has signed solar wafer supply contracts with four suppliers, including Jiangsu Shunda, giving CSI 12MW of wafers before the summer of 2008. Shunda is expected to supply approximately 4MW of that total amount. Read more >>

Sharp Corporation has reached a new solar cell production milestone with over 2GW in cumulative production, equivalent to one quarter of the estimated 8GW total produced worldwide by the end of 2007. Sharp has been involved in the solar power industry for 49 years. Read more >>