Product Briefing Outline: STMicroelectronics has introduced the SPV1001, which replaces the simple bypass diode with an intelligent device that enhances efficiency and offers the same package outline. The new device can deliver a fast Return-On-Investment, in terms of releasing additional energy for solar panel applications.
Two key executive roles have been assigned at thin-film joint venture, 3Sun. Retaining his position at STMicroelectronics, Andrea Cuomo becomes chairman, while Enel executive, Mauro Curiale, will become 3Sun’s CEO.
In a quasi-OEM module agreement, LDK Solar will be supplying 30MW of c-Si modules using Sunways own solar cells in an effort to offer greater choice of competitive products to its distribution partners. Sunways said that the supply agreement was for one-year but expected to extend the contract in the future. The first solar modules from the new partnership will be available in the market within a few weeks.
Forget the shiny new solar modules with their aesthetically pleasing black anodized frames courting the fashion-conscious residential rooftop owner at Solar Power International, but rather go and check out the big powerful stuff. The U.S. is a big country, has big electrical needs and has a huge multigigawatts pipeline of utility-scale projects waiting in the wings.
The technical/economic debate over ever increasing Directional Solidification System (DSS) furnace sizes that cast multi-crystalline ingots, heats-up with the news that GT Solar is beta testing with select customers its next DSS crystalline growth furnace, the ‘DSS650.’ The larger furnace capacity of up to 650 kilograms comes hot on the heals of the official launch in May, 2010 of the ‘DSS450HP,’ a high performance ingot growth furnace with a thermally optimized, second-generation hot zone that claimed to have improved throughput while delivering industry-leading crystal quality.
Having successfully completed IEC 61646 certification, Ascent Solar Technologies now plans to address sales into the building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) and building applied photovoltaic (BAPV) markets. Ascent Solar claims it has a significant advantage when it comes to power to weight ratios and balance of system costs compared with alternative BIPV/BAPV products.
Product Briefing Outline: Dow Chemical has launched it ‘Enlight’ polyolefin encapsulant films, which are claimed to enhance efficiencies in PV module production and lead to lower conversion costs. The films also can provide greater module stability and improved electrical performance versus traditional encapsulants, such as EVA-based products, which improves the reliability and extends the service life of PV modules. The new encapsulant films are suitable for c-Si and thin-film modules.
Jiangsu Linyang Solar Power Electronic Engineering Co, a subsidiary of Solarfun Power has entered into an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Guangdong Guohua New Energy Investment Co to build an 8.1MW solar plant in Heyuan City, Guangdong Province. This project is expected to become operational by the end of the year and is subsidized by the national Golden Sun program.
Currently under test at TUV Rheinland, Green Energy Solar (GESOLAR) is sampling the first ‘smart’ modules with customers, using National Semiconductor’s ‘SolarMagic’ power optimizer chipset within Huber+Suhner NS3 junction boxes. Pre-testing was claimed to show that the GESOLAR smart module could recoup an average of 50% of energy loss and could capture as much as 75% compared to standard panel performance.
With approximately 50% of all conventional crystalline solar modules made in China, the concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) manufacturing sector in the country has been easily overshadowed in the past. However, that could be changing with the inauguration of the first commercial-grade CPV system on the Weihai campus of Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), which was built and installed by China-based Suntrix. The project been listed as the ‘Golden Sun HCPV Demonstration Power Plant’ by the China General Certification Centre (CGC) through the Golden Sun Project.
