Your daily dose of photovoltaic technology developments and solar news

Spire Semiconductor, the wholly owned subsidiary of Spire corporation, has received confirmation from the US Department of Energy (DOE) that it will receive US$2 million under the Advanced Energy Manufacturing tax credit (MTC) program. The funds will be used to expand the company's III/V Compound Semiconductor Foundry facility in Hudson, New Hampshire.

Spire Corporation has released their third quarter revenue results for the period that ended September 30.  The total revenue amounted to $16.5 million, compared to 2008’s third quarter $16.6 million. The net loss was $3.5 million this quarter compared to 2008, which saw a net income of $445,000. The losses include $1.2 million for 2009 and $77,000 for 2008 third quarter results for the company’s medical products business unit that has now been classified as a discontinued operation.

The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (ARRA) authorizes the Department of Treasury to award $2.3 billion in tax credits for qualified investments in advanced energy projects, to support new, expanded, or re-equipped domestic manufacturing facilities, such as solar PV.  

The Portuguese company Martifer Solar and Spire Corporation, located in Bedford, Massachusetts, have announced their mutual satisfaction with the performance of the 50MW fully automated turnkey module manufacturing system developed for Martifer by Spire. The line uses robotic systems, subcontracted by KUKA Systems Germany, for material handling and processing.

Spire Corporation and Gloria Solar of Tainan, Taiwan announced today that they have reached an agreement to liquidate their Joint Venture, Gloria Spire Solar (GSS), which performed PV systems integration within the United States.

Spire Corp. saw its first-quarter revenue impacted by two major contracts not receiving customer acceptance as expected. The turnkey PV manufacturing line specialist posted revenue of US$12.3 million, a 15% decrease from US$14.5 million for the same quarter of 2008.

Spire Solar has upgraded and expanded the Advanced Technology Center (ATC) located at its Bedford, MA, headquarters. The center includes a state-of-the-art PV module production line for product development and PV material evaluations, including solar cells. It also features the company's simulator, cell string assembler, cell tester, lamination system, and other advanced module manufacturing equipment for customer evaluation and training.

Spire’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Spire Semiconductor, LLC, has been awarded a $3,706,359 contract by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for the development of next-generation manufacturing technology to produce 42% efficient III-V triple-junction tandem concentrator solar cells.

Spire Corporation has now reported eight-straight quarters of revenue growth with full 2008 revenue growth of 85% to US$68.7 million, compared to US$37.1 million in 2007. Fourth quarter revenue was US$19.7 million, an increase of 69% from US$11.6 million in the fourth-quarter of 2007, a new quarterly record for the company. Revenue was boosted by a contract termination resulting in net income of $4.8 million from its partner in Japan, Nisshinbo Industries, Inc.

Spire Corp. has decided to share its module-making recipe through the provision of a new development engineering platform for universities, R&D purposes, companies and government laboratories. The platform includes such Spire tools as the Spi-Stringer, the Spi-Laminator and the Spi-Sun Simulator, and training on all of the equipment and processes is included in the platform package.

TÜV Rheinland of North America has selected the 4600 Single Long Pulse ‘Spi-Sun Simulator’ from Spire Corporation for its new test laboratory at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, Arizona. The new 40,000 square foot facility has double the capacity of the previous lab and provides full testing and certification.

Spire has received its sixth sales contract from Solaria Energia y Medio Ambiente, S.A. that will see Spire supply a 100MW production line to the Spanish company. Spire will supply provide state-of-the-art assembly machines, laminators, and a module simulator to Solaria for a sum that has yet to be disclosed. The equipment will be installed in Solaria Energia’s new facility in Fuenmayor, Spain.

Complementing the company’s installation of a turnkey PV module manufacturing line, Spire Corp. has been commissioned to supply US$54.9 million of solar cells to the Federal Prison Industries, Inc., also known as UNICOR, at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Otisville, New York. The aim is for the FCI Otisville inmates to be trained to use the module line, thereby preparing them for employment in the growing solar industry, while the modules manufactured at the plant will be used in government installations.

Spire announced that it will postpone its third-quarter 2008 earnings announcement previously scheduled for today. The solar manufacturing equipment and turnkey module production line company said it is delaying the earnings announcement because it is evaluating the timing of revenue recognition with respect to a single multielement contract with one customer and analyzing its impact, if any, on prior periods.

Spire Corporation and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have signed an agreement that calls for Spire to develop a microcrack detection technique for silicon solar cells and wafers in hopes of decreasing the cost and improving the reliability of solar cell and module manufacturers’ PV modules.

Spire Corporation recently announced its new contract with Hanwha Chemical Corporation, located in Seoul, Korea, to provide a Spi-Line 30C complete turnkey factory to produce up to 30MW per year. Spire has over 25 years of experience in developing solar cell processing technology, which is rooted in Spire’s turnkey cell line. The agreement marks Hanwha’s entrance into the solar market with hopes to make it one of the most modern cell factories in Korea.

XsunX is to use Spire Corporation and Shuttleworth, Inc. for various integration systems at its first 25MW thin film PV production line. Spire Corporation will supply solar module laminating, wiring and test equipment for use in solar module assembly process, while Shuttleworth will provide the material handling and automation systems for all process integration steps.

Wright Williams & Kelly has entered into a strategic agreement with Spire to provide the solar manufacturing company's clients with what the partners call an "unprecedented view" of production costs and return on investment through the use of the cost modeling firm's Factory Commander analysis toolset.

The module manufacturing arm of GreenBrilliance, GreenBrilliance Energy Private Ltd, based in India has placed a turnkey solar module manufacturing line order with Spire Corporation. The semi-automated crystalline module manufacturing line is to be capable of producing up to 12MW of solar modules per year.

ChengDu Tianwei New Energy PV Module Co. Ltd. (Tianwei) has selected stringing and tabbing systems from Spire as well as multiple ‘Spi-Assembler’ 6000 systems to fully automate the soldering of individual solar cells into strings ready for busing. Tianwei is automating these production steps as part of its plans to increase capacity of its solar cell products.

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.

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.

Spire Corp. has announced the delivery of a solar module production line to ET Solar Group, located in the People’s Republic of China. Equipped with this line, ET Solar will be capable of producing up to 15MW of solar modules per annum.

Spire Corporation has received a contract from Bogoroditsk Plant of Techno-Chemical Products (BTCP), a chemical company, to provide a photovoltaic module assembly line for the company's operations in Russia. The semi-automated crystalline silicon module manufacturing line will be capable of producing up to 12MW of solar modules per year, according to Spire. Located in the Tula region of Russia, this will be BTCP’s first PV operation.

Spire Corporation has provided guidance on 2008 revenue projections and business focus, which includes total revenues to be approximately $80 million, primarily generated from the sale of solar capital equipment and turnkey solar factories. Revenues for the nine months ended September 30, 2007 were $25.42 million compared to $15.06 million for the nine month period in 2006 and total revenues of $20.12 million in 2006.

Spire Corporation has selected Electronic Production Partners GmbH (EPP) as its representative in Germany. EPP is a full support distributor, based in Munich, will also represent Spire exclusively in Austria, Switzerland and the Benelux countries with non-exclusive coverage in Eastern Europe and beyond.

Spire Corporation has received a multi-million dollar contract from Ryazan Metal Ceramics Instrumentation Plant Joint Stock Company of Ryazan in Russia to provide them with a turnkey 12MW module manufacturing line. This makes it the largest module producer in Russia, according to Spire.

Solar modules fabricated by EMMVEE Toughened Glass and Photovoltaics Private Limited of Bangalore, India, utilizing Spire’s turnkey photovoltaic module assembly line factory have qualified for the TUV, IEC 61215-2005 and IEC 61730 certificates.

Spire Corporation founder and Chief Executive, Roger Little discusses with Photovoltaics International, the latest trends and opportunities in the fast growing turnkey PV module assembly market. Spire’s CEO notes the developments in the industry in Russia, India and North America that reveals contrasting needs and requirements within these countries. Little also discusses the need to offer turnkey module assembly solutions from 10MW start-up lines through to the gigawatt scale.