Your daily dose of photovoltaic technology developments and solar news

An idled Ford automotive factory near Detroit where T-Birds and Continentals were once built will be redeveloped into one of the largest renewable energy manufacturing parks in the United States. The site will include a micromorph-silicon thin-film solar panel factory equipped by Oerlikon--the company's first such installation in the States. After nine months of discussions with the developers as well as local and state officials, Ford has signed an agreement in principle to sell Wixom assembly plant to energy storage system company Xtreme Power and Clairvoyant Energy, which will be Oerlikon's turnkey PV partner.

Xunlight has delivered a shipment of its flexible triple-junction thin-silicon photovoltaic modules to the University of Toledo. The modules will be part of a 10KW array to be installed at the university's Scott Park Campus of Energy and Innovation (SPCEI). The company said this is the first shipment of modules to be manufactured on its new 25MW roll-to-roll production line.