Grupo Ibereolica has strengthened its foray into the solar thermal industry with its involvement with a dual project that will see an additional 100MW of capacity on Spain’s solar portfolio. Grupo Ibereolica has signed an agreement with Inveravante, a private energy, finance and real estate conglomerate, for the joint construction of two 50MW CSP solar thermal plants, one in Seville, Andalucia, the other in Badajoz, Extremadura.
Isofotón North American, a subsidiary of Isofotón, has signed an agreement of cooperation with the State of Ohio for the establishment of a new Isofotón production centre. The proposed module manufacturing facility will assemble cells manufactured in the Production Center in Malaga, with construction on the 60MW plant planned for between 2010 and 2011.
An in-depth study of the concentrated photovoltaics (CPV) market conducted by the University of Jaen (Spain) and CPV Today has revealed that grid parity could be on the cards for the technology as soon as 2011. Focussing on areas of high irradiance, the study has stated that efficiency increases in cells and optics will be necessary to allow for this target to be reached so soon.
A 16-year veteran of the renewable energy industry, Jean M. Wilson has joined the SunPower team as Vice President and General Manager of the company’s utilities and power plants. This new role will include running SunPower's North American utility and power plant division, supervision of all project development and overseeing utility and Independent Power Producer partnerships, as well as marketing, EPC and component sales.
Konarka’s New Bedford, Massachusetts manufacturing facility, opened in October 2008, has received a boost for its future manufacturing plans with a $5 million long-term loan. The organic photovoltaics developer secured the loan from a funding collaboration between the Emerging Technology Fund of Massachusetts Development Finance Agency and the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust’s Business Expansion Initiative.
Moser Baer’s 40MW thin-film module production line has been granted certification by the International Electrotechnical Commission. The IEC certification guarantees that the thin-film modules being produced at the company’s Greater Noida plant have passed all requirements for functional and mechanical capabilities for long-term operation, as well as maintaining safety specifications under challenging environmental conditions.
This year’s PV Fab Managers’ Forum, taking place in Dresden, Germany on March 8th and 9th, looks set to be an event to remember. SEMI’S PV Group, organizers of the Forum, have appointed as hosts eight fab managers from solar cell manufacturing companies. The representatives will be shouldered with the task of working actively with the PV Group to improve the customer-supplier relation in the photovoltaic industry.
REC’s announcement on December 15th, 2008 regarding the requirement of repair work on its Moses Lake Plant III has seen the work continue into the second week of February 2009. It seems there was close to double the expected amount of welding work to be done, leading to the unscheduled delay in preparing the plant for commercial polysilicon production, which has now been scheduled for the second half of March.
ARISE Technologies Corporation has spoken out about its 2008 financial results, which will be officially released on March 9th, 2009. The company saw increases in shipments from its new German plant in the fourth quarter, reaching approximately 6.2MW, a 24% increase from the 5MW shipped in 3Q08, but overall shipments for the second half of the year were down to 11.2MW on the company’s projection OF 12-13MW.
Evergreen Solar, Inc. has appointed Chinua Ejeka to the role of Applications and Field Support Engineer for Europe. The appointment is an indicator of the company’s expansion efforts within Germany and Europe as a whole. Mr. Ejeka’s main responsibility in this role will be serving as Evergreen Solar's senior technical customer support representative for the company’s product and system performance throughout Europe.
