Mark Osborne

Sunfilm AG has placed its second turnkey ‘SunFab’ tandem junction thin-film line order with Applied Materials. The first line (60MW) is due to come on stream in July 2008 using a tandem junction cell for greater conversion efficiencies, using ultra-large 5.7m2 glass substrates. The second line is expected to become operational in approximately one year from the start-up of the first line.

Product Briefing Outline: Honeywell has developed a new material called ‘PowerShield’ PV325, which is designed to provide greater levels of protection to photovoltaic solar cells and modules that are located in more hostile environments. The material is UV-, moisture- and weather-resistant, and designed to also withstand the electrical load produced by the modules, which can operate at up to 1,000 volts of electricity. The material was developed primarily for rigid PV modules, which are specifically designed to feed power into a utility or local power grid.

Yingli Green Energy has said that it has entered into a new sales contract with IBC Solar AG to deliver a minimum of 35MW of PV modules to IBC from May 2008 to December 2008 for use in projects based in Germany.

A new joint venture crystalline solar cell manufacturer has been created with the announcement that Munich, Germany-based PV systems manufacturer Centrosolar Group AG and Munich-headquartered Qimonda AG plan to build and operate a 100MWp facility at Qimonda’s Vila do Conde, Portugal semiconductor packaging plant. Qimonda is a major semiconductor memory manufacturer.

WACKER SCHOTT Solar GmbH, a joint venture of Wacker Chemie AG and SCHOTT Solar GmbH, has said that its new silicon solar wafer plant in Jena, Germany is expected to reach 50MW in capacity by fall 2008. The new facility took six months to build at a cost of €50 million.

Voltaix has hired two industry veterans from the materials sector of the semiconductor industry to support its growth in both semiconductor and photovoltaics industries. Gregory T. Muhr has been appointed as Global Sales Manager and Jay Song, Ph.D. as Technical Marketing Director.

Spire Corporation has said that it has won a competitive bid to supply turnkey equipment for a combined solar module and solar cell facility from Jiangxi Gemei Sci-Tech LTD, based in Jiangxi, a southern province in China. The contract includes a 25MW multi-crystalline solar cell factory and an adjacent 25MW module facility.

Solarfun Power Holdings said that it reached its expected capacity ramp target of 240MW at the end of 2007. The company expects capital spending to be in the region of $65 to $75 million in 2008 to add further lines to boost production to 360MW by mid-year 2008.

Having already allocated approximately $1.5 billion to significantlyexpand polysilicon production, Hemlock Semiconductor, the largest makerof high-grade polysilicon, is in the process of searching for a newsite for further expansion, according to the Financial Times.

LDK Solar has said that the severe weather conditions experienced inChina recently would have no significant impact on the progress of itspolysilicon plant construction.