Your daily dose of Photovoltaic Technology Developments and Solar News

Trina Solar has said that it has successfully reached 100 percent commercial production of 200 micron thickness wafers, down from the previously used 220 micron thickness as the company attempts to improve silicon usage and lower manufacturing costs. Read more >>

China Sunergy has started mass production of its selective emitter cells after successfully commissioning recently arrived production equipment, the company has said. The emitter cells yielded an average efficiency rate of 17.5 percent during the first few days of mass production in November, the company claimed. Read more >>

A new PV cell start-up based in Italy, SOLSONICA S.p.A., has commissioned M+W Zander Italia S.r. to convert part of an existing IC memory module assembly plant owned by parent company EEMS S.p.A. into a PV cell manufacturing plant in Rieti, Italy. Read more >>

Analog and mixed-signal semiconductor specialist Micrel Inc has said that it has signed a long-term, multimillion dollar contract with an unidentified customer to supply commercial concentrated solar cells using its existing semiconductor fab, based in San Jose, California. Read more >>

China Sunergy is to supply Canadian Solar with a total volume of 25MW of solar cells for 2008. Under the Agreements, China Sunergy will supply approximately 12MW and 13MW of solar cells to Canadian Solar in the first and second half of the year respectively. Read more >>

Family run and privately held Baccini S.p.A, a specialist equipment manufacturer in the field of crystalline silicon (c-Si) photovoltaic (PV) cells, has been acquired by Applied Materials for $330 million in cash. Baccini was founded in 1967 and is regarded as an innovator in automated material handling, especially in respect to ultra-thin solar wafers. The transaction is expected to close in early 2008, according to the companies. Read more >>

ersol Solar Energy AG has opened its second 100MWp cell production plant with an initial investment of €46 million. The first multi- and monocrystalline silicon solar cells will leave the plant in Arnstadt, Germany in early 2008, the company said. Read more >>

Perfectenergy International Limited (OTCBulletinBoard: PFEN) has said that it has received significant land and tax concessions from the Shanghai government to enable the construction of two new solar cell production facilities with 200MW of total new production capacity in the Shanghai Zizhu Science-Based Industrial district of Shanghai, China. Read more >>

Evergreen Solar, Renewable Energy Corporation (“REC”), and Q-Cells, equal partners in EverQ, have said that a third integrated wafer, cell and panel facility would be constructed in Thalheim, Germany at an initial cost of €125 million net of government grants. Read more >>

DayStar Technologies has priced a public offering of 15,000,000 shares of common stock, all of which are being sold by the company at $4.25 per share at an estimated value of $63.8 million. Read more >>