Your daily dose of Photovoltaic Technology Developments and Solar News

Amtech Systems, Inc. has revealed that its subsidiary, Tempress Systems, Inc. has received two new orders for its diffusion processing system, worth a total of $5 million.  The orders consist of one in Asia, for multiple systems, and another from a solar research and development institute in Europe.

Despatch Industries has booked a $5 million order for photovoltaic manufacturing equipment with an unnamed European solar-cell manufacturer. The deal is for multiple units of the process tool company's newest generation of multilane firing infrared furnaces.

Accompanying the news of its appointment of a new CFO, JA Solar has announced that it has agreed to supply 60MW of polycrystalline PV cells to Solar Power, Inc. (SPI) in 2009, with the supply taking effect immediately. The one-year supply agreement will comply with Solar Power’s monthly cell requirements and will see the cells used in the production of SPI’s solar modules for distribution in Europe, Asia, and for turnkey systems in the United States.

Cell efficiency is the name of the game in the photovoltaics industry. The recent claim that First Solar has achieved the coveted grid parity has confirmed the importance of cell efficiency in the light of pushing solar energy as a viable contender in the race to reduce carbon emissions globally.

Nanjing-based China Sunergy Co., Ltd. has brought four high-efficiency SE solar cell manufacturing lines into commercial production at a ceremony held to celebrate the commencement of China Sunergy’s 3rd stage production. The door of the 3rd stage production lines was opened to visitors on the day, with attendees including China Sunergy executives Tingxiu Lu, Chairman, Dr. Allen Wang, CEO, and Dr. Jianhua Zhao, CTO.

Crystalline-silicon solar-cell manufacturer Suniva officially cut the ribbon on what's being called the first solar factory in the Southeastern U.S. during a dedication ceremony attended by Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue. The company says that its Atlanta metro area production facility will create more than 100 permanent jobs by year-end 2009, with additional positions to come, once the plant ramps to full production capacity in 2010.

Kopin Corp. has recently been awarded a $600,000 NASA contract for the production of nanostructured solar cells made from indium gallium phosphide (InGaP) materials. The two-year NASA Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program will be to develop a solar cell design that has a higher efficiency while being less expensive than the traditional multi-junction technology.

Konarka Technologies, Inc. has had the National Energy Renewable Laboratory (NREL) verify that the material class in its collection of flexible organic-based PV solar cells demonstrated a 6% efficiency performance. Dr. Alan Heeger (pictured) from the University of California, Santa Barbara and Chief Scientist at Konarka carried out the results under the Sustainable Development Technology Canada program...

The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE), using Aerosol Jet printing equipment developed by Optomec, has achieved over 20% efficiency on solar cells when combined with Light Induced Plating (LIP) and Annealing. The results were presented at the Crystal Clear “Workshop on Metallization for Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells” on 1 October 2008.

The Digitimes reports that E-Ton Solar Tech is anticipated to sign with an Italian PV module producer for a four-year contract to supply solar cells totaling 100MWp. E-Ton reportedly declined to comment on the deal, but did acknowledge that Europe is abundant with business opportunities, especially in countries like Italy, Greece and France.