The Omni Hotel in San Francisco was home to the first ever Solar Engineering & Manufacturing Association (SEMA) meeting, held on the last day of Intersolar North America. A selection of solar professionals from around the world gathered to establish the mission statement, goals and basic structure of the association.
Caltech will be leading the way for the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) with some help from U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy, Daniel Poneman’s US$122 million award for the Energy Innovation Hub. The project will focus on replicating nature’s photosynthesis energy process as a new approach to energy production for commercialized use. The award will be distributed over a five year term to a multidisciplinary team of scientists chosen for the project.
Sunfilm has set a world record of 9.6% total-area efficiency for a module of 2.6m x 2.2m. Sunfilm's Model F achieved a maximum stabilized output power of 546Wp, achieved during a recent process optimization run on the company's production line. The thin-film deposition rate was the same as the one used for Sunfilm's normal high-volume production.
Joining the likes of JA Solar, on its quest to improve solar cell efficiency, Yingli Green has signed a technology, research and production collaboration agreement with Innovalight - the privately-held firm selling a platform of silicon ink-based high efficiency solar cell materials and technology.
Thin-film solar panel manufacturer, Stion, who recently announced a US$70 million Series D financing round and has begun expanding its San Jose, CA, manufacturing facility to 100MW, has appointed Duston Williams as audit committee chair on its board of directors.
S.A.G. Solarstrom is to construct a 48MWp ground-mounted photovoltaic power plant in region of Veneto, in the municipality of Canaro, northern Italy. This is the largest project to be planned by S.A.G Solarstrom to date.
Camstar Systems’ employees will soon be seeing new faces at their Silicon Valley headquarters with the company’s new purchase of SigmaQuest. Camstar has bought the new company in its entirety, with all SigmaQuest employees to become Camstar staff members. SigmaQuest is a provider of software as a service supply (SaaS) chain intelligence solution.
Effective July 23, 2010, Akeena Solar will carry out its operations under the name Westinghouse Solar and change its ticker symbol to WEST. Additionally announced was the company’s second quarter revenue earnings for the period that ended on June 30, 2010. Total revenue for the quarter came in at US$9.9 million, the highest level of revenue in six quarters.
IMS Research has reported that from Q4'10, module shipments are due to take a downturn, declining by almost 10% quarter-on-quarter in Q1'11. This contradicts the shipment increases which have been apparent for six consecutive quarters since Q1'09.
Perhaps it should come as no surprise that struggling CIGS thin-film start-up, DayStar Technologies has said that a lease for premises it uses in Newark, California has been terminated. The company is now pursuing opportunities to manufacture CIGS modules offshore. It noted that since May 2010, raising funds to continue operations has proved difficult, and that it could, in the ‘very near term,’ file for bankruptcy.
