News

Moser Baer India has announced that it expects its solar unit, Moser Baer Photo Voltaic, to dominate the business within five years as demand for clean energy in India outpaces that of DVDs and Blu-rays. "Growth in photovoltaics dwarfs our main business," said chief financial officer Yogesh Mathur. "The industry is growing at a rate of 40 to 50% and we may grow even faster if we're able to take up our capacity."

OPEL Solar is in the process of qualifying a number of manufacturing companies to build its product line in North America. The company is intending to manufacture its HCPV panels and tracker products with the support of local industry in the U.S. and Canada to ensure prompt and cost-effective delivery of North American orders, as well as contributing to the growth of jobs in the area.

According to updated figures from GSE, PV installations in Italy for 2009 have risen to 720.3MW, up from revised figures released in January, 2010 of 374MW. Installations connected to the grid in 2008 were 338MW. Recently, Barclays Capital had forecasted that PV installations in Italy could reach 2GW in 2010 as grid parity had been reached.

New Jersey’s Lieutenant Governor was on hand along with officials from FedEx ground and BP Solar to celebrate the official dedication of the large rooftop solar-electric system on FedEx Ground’s New Jersey hub. The rooftop project was completed last December and marks the third solar power project between a FedEx operating company and BP Solar.

Solarbuzz has announced Finlay Colville as the new senior analyst who will be in charge of improving the company’s reporting on solar manufacturing equipment, which includes technologies and trends and forecasts in the solar industry. The new appointment comes after Solarbuzz’s recent acquisition by the NPD Group last month.

The non-profit organization, the SunPower Foundation, which is funded by SunPower Corp., will support the third phase of the Alliance for Mindanao Off-Grid Renewable Energy (AMORE III), the program to support renewable energy development, education and training on the Philippine island of Mindanao.

Solutia has announced plans to expand its manufacturing plant located in Suzhou, China. The site is used for the production of the company's Saflex polyvinyl butyral (PVB) interlayer for laminated glass.

Following on from a series of solar project developer acquisitions, First Solar is acquiring NextLight Renewable Power for approximately US$285 million. NextLight has a project pipeline worth 1.1GW, with sites located in the southwestern United States that range in size from 30MW to 290MW. With its project development acquisitions, First Solar has rapidly become a major player in the U.S. utility renewable power market.

Aide Solar, a subsidiary of the Panjit Group, publicized the grand opening of its Xuzhou, China, solar cell/module production facility. At over 1 million square feet, the new facility is reported to be able to increase the company’s poly- and monocrystalline silicon PV module capacity by 40%--a grand total of 350MW per year. The new plant has 12 solar cell production lines and brings the Aide Solar employee count to 1,184 people worldwide.

Thin-film photovoltaics firm Xunlight has received certification for its flexible, lightweight modules under the ANSI/UL 1703 standard for North American markets. The company says the certification applies to its XR-series of flexible photovoltaic rooftop modules for a range of power outputs up to 264W per panel, making Xunlight one of a handful of companies that have had their flexible PV panels certified.