Your daily dose of Photovoltaic Technology Developments and Solar News

Trina Solar has placed a multi-year, multi-system contract for Spire’s ‘Spi-Sun’ Simulator 4600 Single Long Pulse (4600 SLP) systems. The 4600 SLP has recently been purchased by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Underwriters Laboratories. Read more >>

This first 200 kilowatt (kW) phase of SolFocus' planned 3MW concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) solar power plant at the Institute of Concentration Photovoltaic Systems (ISFOC) in Spain is ready to operate. A further 300kW will be ready in a month, according to the company. ISFOC will own and operate the plant as part of its testing and evaluation goals for further CPV installations within Spain in the future. Read more >>

Trina Solar is to supply Enel.si, a subsidiary of Enel SpA, Italy's largest power company, with a total of 17MW of PV modules starting in 2008. 15MW are scheduled for delivery in 2009 at fixed prices, Trina Solar said. Read more >>

Suntech has said that it has signed a two-year deal with Enel.si, a subsidiary of Enel, Italy's largest power company, to supply 30MW of photovoltaic modules, starting in late 2008. Suntech said that this was part of a strong pipeline of orders building for 2009, across all major demand regions. Read more >>

A former distributor and large-scale installer of photovoltaic modules in Australia has been acquired by SunPower Corporation as part of the PV manufacturer’s evolving direct sales business model. For an undisclosed sum, Solar Sales Pty. Ltd. will become a unit of the Silicon Valley-based company. Read more >>

Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. has selected Spire Corporation’s ‘Spi-Sun Simulator’ 4600 Single Long Pulse systems for photovoltaic module testing operations in both the United States and China. Read more >>

City Solar Kraftwerke AG has entered into a five-year supply agreement with EPV SOLAR for the delivery of 250MW of amorphous silicon modules to City Solar. The agreement will see the initial delivery of 2MW of modules for installation at City Solar’s site in Germany by the end of 2008. EPV has begun shipments of modules from its New Jersey manufacturing facility to serve this contract. Read more >>

Day4Energy, a PV module manufacturer, has added 35MW of production capacity to its Burnaby production facility in a greater-than-anticipated production expansion. The installation of Phase I production equipment in the facility has increased the company’s output by 25% more than was originally planned to 47MW per annum. The Phase II expansion, which is currently in process, will add an extra 50MW of capacity. Read more >>

Underwriters Laboratories (UL), a product safety testing and certification company, has opened North America’s largest commercially focused PV testing and certification facility in San Jose, California. The 20,000 square-foot facility, dubbed the Photovoltaic Technology Center of Excellence, will provide both indoor and outdoor certification and testing services via its 14 test chambers and two solar simulators for PV modules and panels. It will also provide full pre-certification services including training and R&D. Read more >>

TÜV Rheinland has awarded certification to standard IEC 61646 to ersol’s Nova-T amorphous thin-film module following collaboration by ersol with Oerlikon Solar. The modules are produced using Oerlikon’s fabrication equipment, and during the testing process underwent a variety of harsh stress tests to gain the sought-after certification. Read more >>