A team of scientists at the Leibniz Institute for New Materials (INM) has developed a glass-like barrier layer that separates the metal carrier from the absorber film. The new material is said to increase the efficiency of metal-based CIGS thin-film solar cells by as much as 13%.
Flextronics and eSolar have signed a deal that calls for the electronic manufacturing services company to provide electromechanical design capabilities to the concentrating solar thermal power plant developer. Flextronics will focus its design services efforts relating to eSolar's next-generation heliostats and solar collector systems at its Plano, TX, location.
Utility-scale developer SolarReserve has been awarded its final Certificates of Environmental Compatibility (CEC) from the Arizona Corporation Commission for its 150MW Crossroads Solar Energy Project to be built near Gila Bend. The approval includes the associated transmission line connecting the CSP project to Arizona Public Service’s transmission grid.
Avnet Electronics Marketing Americas and STMicroelectronics have teamed up to create a series of technical videos focusing on the challenges and solutions in PV system development.
solarhybrid has signed a strategic partnership with an unnamed Italian developer for a series of upcoming projects. The companies will collaborate on projects of varying size and they hope to have established a portfolio totalling around 30MW by the end of 2011.
Preliminary financial results from SolarWorld show the integrated module manufacturer posted revenue of €1.3 billion in 2010, a 29% increase over the previous year, when revenue of €1.01 billion was reported. Shipments of wafers and solar modules also increased over the previous year, reaching 819MW, up 42% over figures logged in 2009 when shipments reached 578MW.
A sudden rise in the number of solar power installations in Italy is being investigated by the government over fears of feed-in tariff (FiT) fraud, according to Industry Minister Paolo Romani.
Martifer Solar has installed a 2.88MW rooftop facility in the Czech Republic’s capital city, Prague. The 67,816-square-metre array covers six separate buildings in an out-of-city industrial park and is operated by a third-party.
HelioPower has started construction of its 516kW (DC) solar power system at the Giumarra Vineyards production and cold storage facility in Bakersfield, California. The system will use over 2,296 PV modules to produce 1GWh of electricity per year.
Sungevity has appointed Mac Irvin as the company’s new chief financial officer. With over 20 years of experience in equity investments, fundraising, leasing and other structured transactions for domestic and international markets, Irvin will be leading Sungevity in its corporate finance and accounting activities as well as acquiring project financing for their solar leasing product.
