News

Renewable Energy Corporation ASA has invested $40 million for a 20 percent shareholding in Mainstream Energy Corporation (MSE), a renewable energy company headquartered in San Luis Obispo, California.

Daniel Lui has been named as new CFO for JA Solar following the announcement of Herman Zhao’s retirement from the role. The replacement will come into effect on May 10th when Mr. Zhao steps down.

ARISE Technologies has set new ambitious plans to increase PV cell production. The company has announced an overall plan to reach 560MW production levels by the end of 2012, up from the previous target of 360MW - a 56 percent increase. The expected increase in silicon solar cell production is due to ARISETechnologies’ plan to expand its own polysilicon production at itspilot plant in Waterloo, Canada to 50 tons per annum in 2009 and 400tons per annum by 2010. The company also intends building a newhigh-volume plant with a capacity of 10,000 tons by 2011.

China Nuvo Solar Energy, with its collaboration partner, Pioneer Materials, Inc. (PMI) has said that the planned pilot line in Chengdu, China will be used for the development of higher efficiency stacked solar cells using copper indium gallium selenium (CIGS) thin-film materials.

Photovoltaic cell and module manufacturer Solsonica, based in Rieti, Italy has selected gas abatement technology from Edwards that will be used for abatement during silicon nitride (SiN) deposition in its polysilicon solar cell manufacturing operations. Solsonica has purchased two ‘ATLAS’ thermal conditioning systems (TCS) for its requirements.

BioSolar, Inc. has enlisted the expertise of Dr. Charles Carraher (pictured) by appointing him to its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Carraher has been the recipient of several awards and recognitions over the course of his over 40 years in the hi-tech industry, and his research on polymers has been widely accredited.

The 1ères Rencontres Photovoltaïque, France’s first venture into the world of hosting photovoltaics conferences, is to take place on April 9th, 2008. The one-day event looks set to cover the main aspects of the industry, with talks on market status, R&D trends, materials, economics and finance in the sector and governmental issues.

MEMC Electronic Materials has said that a production problem at its Pasadena, Texas facility had impacted its utilization rate by approximately 20 percent. The lower than anticipated output would also impact revenues in the quarter.

Daisuke (Doug) Koshima has been named as successor to the CEO and Chairman role as vacated by Toshihiko Fujimoto, who has moved to take up the role of General Manager for strategic planning within Sharp Corp.’s International Business Group. Mr. Koshima, a 37-year employee of the company, departs from his former role as Corporate Director and Group General Manager of the International Business Group.

Spire Corporation has said that it has won a competitive bid to supply turnkey equipment for a combined solar module and solar cell facility from Jiangxi Gemei Sci-Tech LTD, based in Jiangxi, a southern province in China. The contract includes a 25MW multi-crystalline solar cell factory and an adjacent 25MW module facility.