Your daily dose of photovoltaic technology developments and solar news

Voltaix, the provider of materials to enhance the performance of semiconductor chips and solar cells, has announced its plans to open a new manufacturing facility in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. The plant will be constructed at the Portland Industrial Park in Upper Mt. Bethel Township.

Linde North America has combined its electronics and specialty gases customer services operations in a new facility located in Stewartsville, New Jersey. The consolidation is part of the integration of Spectra Gases, which Linde purchased in 2006.

Applied Materials announced last week that it has opened the newly expanded Tainan Manufacturing Center in southern Taiwan, a nearly 15,000 square-meter facility that the company says will enhance its capability to serve thin-film solar photovoltaic and flat-panel display (FPD) customers in Asia. The center employs approximately 150 people and is expected to build and ship about 100 new plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and physical vapor deposition (PVD) production systems this year

The lure of Ontario’s attractive subsidies, especially for firms with “local content,” has enticed another solar company to set up manufacturing and expand operations in the Canadian province. SMA Solar Technology has started a subsidiary for production, sales, and service in Ontario, with plans to invest €5-10 million for the buildout of a 500MW capacity photovoltaic inverter factory.

Polysilicon producer Hoku Materials has received the second tranche of $30 million for a total loan amount of $50 million from Tianwei New Energy Holdings, a vertically integrated solar manufacturer based in China. Hoku also confirmed that it had received $4 million in polysilicon prepayments on March 1 from Solarfun Power, pursuant to the PV company's sales agreement with Hoku.

A senior government delegation visited Yingli Green Energy's headquarters in Baoding on March 5 and 6, 2010. Attendees included Jiang Zemin, former president of China, Zeng Peiyan, former vice premier of China, and Zhang Guobao, director of the National Energy Administration of China.

Trina Solar has established its European regional headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, which commenced initial operations as of January 2010. The company has made this change in a bid to strengthen its presence in Europe and to meet the growing needs of its customer base in the area.

Eyelit has landed another customer for its solar PV manufacturing software--flexible CIGS thin-film module maker Ascent Solar. The PV company is using the suite to support the production ramp of its 30MW Fab 2 in Thornton, CO, which is slated to go live the end of March.

Nexcis, a start-up company specializing in the manufacturing of CIGS thin-film solar cells and modules from electrodeposition, has inaugurated a PV module production unit at STMicroelectronics' former six-inch fab in Rousset, France.

Groundbreaking on a new, initial 100MW a-Si/SiGe thin-film plant in Henan Province, China, took place on March 2 by a joint-venture start-up. Henan Gogreen Energy has contracted with Apollo Precision and GS-Solar for the turnkey module production equipment at a cost of approximately US$95.4 million. The joint venture was formed by China Gogreen Assets Investment and  Zhengzhou High-Tech Start-up Investment, which is controlled by the Zhengzhou Municipal People’s Government, Henan Province, China. The company is confident that its initial a-Si/SiGe thin-film modules will have a conversion efficiency of 8%.