Northern California’s Butte College is looking forward to calling itself the only college in the United States that is grid positive. The achievement is anticipated to be reached by May 2011, with the recent approval by the school's board of trustees for the completion of its Phase III solar project. This next phase will add around 15,000 solar PV panels, 2.7MW DC, to its 1.85MW generated from 10,000 solar panels.
Fronius’ presence in Mississaugua, Ontario, will soon be expanding to include more than the sales and service subsidiary it has housed in the area. Fronius will be building a 50MW total capacity production site for its solar inverters, to be brought online by the end of the first quarter in 2011. Over 100 new jobs will be opened with this facility. The first assembly line will be for grid-connected Fronius IG Plus invertors, with the potential to expand production in the future.
IMS Research has fashioned the PV Demand Database, which provides installation for over 50 countries with historical and forecast data. The company’s research for the database found that cumulative solar PV installations will reach over 120GW by the end of 2014, with a steady annual PV installation increase of more than 20% between 2011 and 2014. The research predicts that over 80GW of new PV capacity will be installed globally during this period.
Emcore and San'an Optoelectronics have signed a joint-venture deal for the development, manufacture, and distribution of concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) receivers, modules, and systems for terrestrial solar power applications in China. The JV, called Suncore Photovoltaics, will be owned 40% by Emcore and 60% by San'an, which is the largest producer of LED chips and epitaxial wafers in China and is also a leader in CPV manufacturing and deployment in the country.
Schott Solar has appointed Richard Gruber as executive vice president of sales and business development at Schott Solar CSP. Gruber will be responsible for leading sales and business development in the U.S.
SunPower has completed a 505kW solar power installation for Horizon Power, the government-owned utility providing power to remote and regional communities and resource operations in Western Australia. The project, which marks the largest solar tracking system installation in the country, will power the world's first high penetration, hybrid solar-diesel power station.
BTU International has announced its financial results for the second quarter ended July 4, 2010. Net sales for the period were US$18.0 million, up 4.9% compared to US$17.2 million in the preceding quarter, and up 66.8% compared to US$10.8 million for the same quarter in 2009.
SunEdison has signed on to finance, build, own, operate, monitor and maintain a total capacity of 1.5MW of PV solar energy systems, which will be hosted on the CanFirst Capital Management facilities. The Ontario Power Authority has agreed to purchase the energy produced under the terms of Ontario’s FIT program. CanFirst will benefit with lease revenue for the roof-top space they loan to SunEdison without any upfront capital equipment costs.
Intevac has reported strong financial results for the quarter and six months ended July 3, 2010. Total revenues for the second quarter were US$68.6 million, up 457% year-on-year and 107% quarter-on-quarter, while gross margin was 42.3% and operating margin 21.1%.
Hanwha Chemical is to purchase a 50% stake in Solarfun for a total of 434.1 billion won (US$371 million) in order to diversify revenue sources. The company will purchase 208.3 million shares, including new stock.
