News

A new joint venture company AES Solar has been formed to develop, own and operate utility-scale solar projects for partners The AES Corporation and Riverstone Holdings LLC, with an investment of $1 billion over five years.

WACKER AG has said that its polysilicon capacity is expected to rise from 10,000 to over 22,000 metric tons by the end of 2010. Its Burghausen plant which has been undergoing an expansion was completed 3 months in advance of schedule and reached a capacity of 3,500 metric tons at the end of 2007. Expansion Stage 6 was said to be running at full capacity since Q4 2007, according to CEO Peter-Alexander Wacker at an annual investor conference held in Munich this week.

SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES and Q-Cells will start a joint development program towards having a fully automated vacuum coating system for depositing anti-reflective layers on solar wafers to drive conversion efficiencies higher while reducing production costs, the companies have said.

Malibu GmbH & Co. KG in Bielefeld, Germany, a joint venture between energy utility E.ON and Schüco, a buildings systems manufacturer, has signed a long-term contract for over-the-fence supply of nitrogen (N2), hydrogen (H2), silane (SiH4), nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), argon (Ar), and helium (He).

Signet Solar has committed to building its second large substrate thin film photovoltaic plant in the Sriperembudur Special Economic Zone near Chennai, India. Construction is expected to start later in 2008 on a 300MW facility at an initial estimated cost of $500 million. 

Next Solar, a new solar panel manufacturer based in Tripoli, Greece, has announced that it is to be use Oerlikon’s micromorph technology in the establishment of its first thin-film solar module factory. Oerlikon will deliver the turnkey production line this year, while Next Solar’s fabrication line will start production in early 2009.

JA Solar has raised its annual solar cell production guidance figures for 2008. Previously, the company has said that it expected to ramp to 425MW by the end of the year; however, it is now guiding 500MW capacity due to an acceleration in number of production lines planned for the year. Total production output is expected to reach 340MW for 2008, the company said. JA Solar was able to ramp production lines from 75MW in 2006 to 175MWin 2007, and expects to add 20 new production lines to an existingplant and ramp a new plant nearing completion.

Power-One, Inc. has been selected by the Energy Division of Isolux Corsán to provide its ‘Aurora’ PVI-Central inverters for Spain’s largest photovoltaic-power installation project. Installation of 100 invertors is expected before September 2008, covering approximately 34MW.

An experienced solar industry executive, Chris O’Brien’s addition to the Oerlikon Solar team in North America is a strategic move to expand operations and penetrate markets in the area.

centrotherm photovoltaics AG has expanded its operations to include sites in Italy and the U.S., the company announced today. This is in line with the company’s strategy to expand its presence in regions with high growth expectations in PV adoption and manufacturing.