Solar Power Inc. has signed an exclusive deal to sell its crystalline-silicon solar PV modules to Australian solar developer, Beyond Building Systems. The two-year supply agreement, which calls for a minimum purchase of 5.7 MW of modules, provides BBS with exclusive access to SPI's 170-220-W panels for use throughout Australia, according to SPI.
Satcon will expand its global photovoltaic inverter and other manufacturing capacity to more than 600MW in 2009 between its production facilities in Burlington, Ontario, and Shenzhen, China, as well as partner with DB Schenker Logistics to provide global logistics and transportation services for Satcon's global supply chain needs.
Innovalight has installed what is being called the first high-throughput industrial silicon-ink inkjet printing system at the company’s headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA. Dutch production tool company OTB Solar engineered and manufactured the system in cooperation with Innovalight.
Asola Advanced and Automotive Solar Systems has opened a new crystalline-silicon solar module factory in Erfurt, central Germany. The plant will have an initial annual production rate of 32 MW, with a 45 MW capacity achieved by year's end, according to the company.
Oerlikon Solar maintained a comfortable lead in 2008 among among solar turnkey manufacturing line providers in rankings released by VLSI Research. Centrotherm took over the second-place slot from Roth & Rau, which dropped to the third position, while Applied Materials and Schmid Gruppe rounded out the top five.
Schott Solar will shutter its 15-MW module manufacturing facility in Billerica, MA, effective July 31 as part of efforts to streamline its global manufacturing operations. The move will affect 180 full-time employees and 45 temporary workers at the plant, although the company said it will offer jobs to those affected at other sites where available.
The Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory has tapped Optomec's aerosol jet deposition system to be part of its atmospheric processing platform in the Process Development and Integration Lab in Golden, CO. The noncontact system will be used primarily to develop deposition processes for metallization and coatings to reduce the cost of production of crystalline silicon and thin-film solar photovoltaic cells.
A 10-MW solar photovoltaic power plant near Masdar City, Abu Dhabi--said to be the largest of its kind in the Middle East/North Africa region--has been activated and connected to the grid. The project, which began construction in January, was designed and built by local solar integrator Enviromena Power System. Electricity from the 55-acre installation will help provide energy for the initial construction work at Masdar City.
Under the terms of a deal announced at Intersolar Europe this week, RGE Energy will use hundreds of thousands of BP Solar crystalline-silicon PV panels for 66 MW of installations, including a 46-MWp plant to be built in Koethen, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The project launch is planned for the third quarter; the approval procedure is being processed, and by the end of the year, all of the 220-W modules should be set for installation, the companies said.
Troubled solar materials supplier Timminco has ratified and approved the terms of a new collective bargaining deal with its hourly workforce at the company's Becancour, Quebec, facilities. More than 93% of the unionized employees, who are represented by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, Local 184, voted in favor of the new terms, which will apply for five years ending in April 2013.
