Ceres Technologies advised that it had bought technology and product assets from the CIGS system business that was operated by Veeco Instruments. The CIGS product line is expected to add to Ceres’ products and services for the renewable energy sector with production-ready CIGS deposition tool sets, including machines for Molybdenum back contact, CIGS absorber layer and transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layers.
The Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy (CASE) announced GT Advanced Technologies and REC Silicon have been welcomed into the fold. The US-based companies will be joining the cause against the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturers (CASM) who claims Chinese manufacturers are trading unfairly.
Better than expected market demand, across multiple regions in the fourth quarter of 2011 has led to Canadian Solar to significantly increase its module shipment guidance ahead of releasing Q4 and full-year results on March 7th. Previously, the company guided fourth quarter shipments to be in the range of 340MW - 360MW, inline with third quarter shipment levels and in contrast to many of its tier 1 rivals. However, the company expects shipments to be in the range of 430MW - 440 MW.
The last 12 months for Suntech have been quite successful, even amid the chaos surrounding Suntech’s response to accusations by US companies of impeding US growth. Technology Review’s annual list comprises 50 of the world’s most innovative companies and Suntech has been nominated in the energy and materials category. Editors look for companies that have demonstrated original, valuable technology to market and significantly influencing their competitors.
Apple has announced in its Facilities Report it is to construct the largest end user owned, onsite solar array in the US. The rumours surrounding the technology company’s renewable energy goals have been put to bed. The 20MW facility, in Maiden, North Carolina, will be installed on 100 acres of land, supplying 42 million kWh of renewable energy annually. Apple will also be building a fuel cell installation, powered by 100% biogas to provide more than 40 million kWh of baseload renewable energy annually.
Bio-based PV module backsheet developer, BioSolar claims that a customer is preparing a batch of solar panels with its ‘BioBacksheet’ material for full panel recertification by Underwriter's Laboratories (UL). In March, 2011 the company announced it was supplying sample material for PV module manufacturers based in Asia for evaluation.
As part of its utility-scale project pipeline in Imperial Valley, California, 8minutenergy Renewables has signed a 25-year contract to sell 200MW (AC) from the planned Mount Signal Solar project to San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E). The Mount Signal Solar project is expected to begin supply to SDG&E in mid-2013 and has an 18-month construction time, employing 450 direct jobs and more than 500 indirect jobs in Imperial County. The contract is pending approval from the California Public Utilities Commission.
TÜV Rheinland has certified Emmvee modules as compliant with the Italian Energy Agency’s GSE guidelines. The TÜV Rheinland confirmation certifies that Emmvee modules are equipped with cells manufactured in Europe, primarily in Germany. The company notes that TÜV Rheinland will soon begin testing the origin of the cells in order to certify their manufacture and production sites.
Solar Frontier provided 10MW of its CIS thin-film solar modules to power the Mt. Komekura Solar Power Plant in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, which started operations on January 27. Shigeaki Kameda, president of Solar Frontier, was in attendance for the plant’s opening celebration.
MBJ Solutions has completed installation of its electroluminescence inspection systems into the production lines of Centrosolar Sonnenstromfabrik. The new equipment inspects 100% of Centrosolar’s module production to ensure any anomalies, not visible to the naked eye, will be detected.
