Following on from its last major order for ‘SunCarrier’ solar tracking systems in September 2009, when a+f announced an eight solar park deal worth €36 million for the Foggia and Apulia regions of Italy, the company has signed a new deal worth over €43 million for a further eight parks.
Evolution Solar will begin distribution of Hangzhou Amplesun Solar Technology’s (AmpleSun) line of thin-film products following the signing of an agreement between the two companies. Evolution is now the ‘preferred provider’ of AmpleSun’s product line in the Americas, Africa and the Caribbean. AmpleSun expects to reach a production capacity of 120MW of thin-film modules in 2010.
Prism Solar Technologies and The Solar Energy Consortium (TSEC) have reached an agreement on a US$3.6 million federal grant secured by Congressman Maurice Hinchey's Office. As a result, Prism Solar will receive US$3,240,000 to manage a project to commercialize its solar bifacial ribbon cell technology that can be utilized with Prism Solar's Holographic Planar Concentrator (HPC) technology.
PV rooftop system specialist Payom Solar has signed a product order with Yingli that will see the module manufacturer supply 51MW worth of modules to Payom in 2010. Yingli will supply the modules throughout the year to the Germany-based company for an undisclosed price.
The United Nations summit on climate change in Copenhagen has now began. The much-anticipated event will see delegates from a total of 192 countries involved in what scientists are calling "the most important conference the world has ever seen".
The dispute over a solar wafer supply agreement between Q-Cells and LDK Solar has been settled out of court with both companies continuing their business partnerships and agreeing to a new tolling arrangement for solar cells and modules. According to Q-Cells both parties have resolved their differences over the interpretation of the disputed wafer supply contract and have ended all legal actions, including Q-Cells attempt to collect on a US$244.5 million bank guarantee.
Solarfun Power Holdings, a manufacturer of silicon ingots, photovoltaic cells and modules in China, has announced the signing of an agreement between their subsidiary Jiangsu Linyang Solarfun and the government of Jiayuguan City, Gansu Province that will see the construction of a 100MW solar power plant. Solarfun will construct a module production facility in Jiayuguan City to accommodate the terms of the agreement.
Although site selection and other details such as costs and actual size of the plant have yet to be decided, Canadian Solar has announced plans to build a ~200MW module factory in Ontario, Canada, which could see ‘Phase 1’ in operational status by the end of 2010. The integrated PV manufacturer noted that Ontario’s attractive FiT (feed-in tariff) had shown considerable customer interest for ‘Made in Ontario’ solar systems. However, the FiT also stipulates that on larger PV installations 50% of the goods and labour need to have been sourced locally. This requirement will rise to 60% in 2011.
Yingli Green Energy has received the Social Accountability System SA 8000 certification for its design, manufacture, selling and supply of PV modules and systems and the manufacture of upstream products, including polysilicon, ingots, wafers and cells. The SA 8000 certification is an international standardized code of conduct designed for improving working conditions around the world.
An agreement between Oerlikon Systems and Meyer Burger to collaborate on the distribution of the recently launched single wafer sputter Solaris system has been signed, which will see the companies market the system on a global scale. This move will see Meyer Burger provide sales and customer support for the system in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas while also paving the way for the two companies to perform collaborative research into anti-reflective coating developments.
