Your daily dose of photovoltaic technology developments and solar news

Solon SE is expanding its global reach with a strategic partnership agreement with Czech turnkey project developer Energ Servis. Solon has also agreed to, under the terms of the agreement, supply Energ Servis with 5MW of PV modules throughout 2010.

Siliken, the Spanish renewable energy company, has entered into an agreement with Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) to set up a 9.8MW power solar photovoltaics plant in the Italian city of Fiumicino, Rome. Once complete this will be the largest PV installation in the region and one of the biggest in Italy.

China Sunergy has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of two related module manufacturers, CEEG (Shanghai) Solar Science & Technology and CEEG (Nan Jing) New Energy.

CNPV Solar Power has entered into a long-term strategic partnership sales agreement with Sinatis Europe, the French project development and distribution company. Under the terms of the contract, CNPV will supply Sinatis Europe with a total of 50MWp of PV modules from 2010 to 2012, which includes 10MWp of scheduled delivery during 2010. The remaining 15MWp and 25MWp are scheduled for delivery in 2011 and 2012, respectively.

Solon has closed a framework agreement for the supply of 90,000 solar modules with the solar distributor entrason, northern Hesse. The contract will run over several years, with an estimated total volume of 20MW for the first year.

Q-Cells chief executive officer Anton Milner has resigned with immediate effect amid fears of a 'loss of confidence' from the company's investors. The supervisory board met to discuss a management shake-up on March 11, at which point they accepted Milner's exit. Current CFO, Nedim Cen, will take over as CEO, holding both positions.

CNPV Solar Power has entered into a long-term strategic partnership sales agreement with Techbank, the South Korean PV company. Under the terms of the contract, CNPV will supply Techbank with a total of 36MWp of modules from 2010 to 2012, which includes 10MWp of scheduled delivery during 2010. The remaining 12MWp and 14MWp are scheduled for delivery in 2011 and 2012 respectively.

Phaesun, along with its partner Ikratos Africa, is constructing 10 solar power plants in Koudougou Region in Burkina Faso, which is one of the poorest regions in the world. The plants are due to be completed at the end of March 2010 and will provide renewable electricity for telecommunications plants.

Kyocera has announced that it will significantly increase its annual solar cell production targets to meet the growing demand for solar energy products in the global market. New targets aim for an increase to 1GW annually by March 2013, which is more than 2.5 times the current fiscal year 2010 production volume of 400MW.

LDK Solar has entered into an agreement to acquire the crystalline module manufacturing plant of Best Solar. The transaction will be based on a cash consideration of US$21.5 million, representing the value of the assets acquired determined on a neutral basis.