Constellation Energy will be developing a 5.2MW DC solar PV system with Johnson Matthey and Preferred Unlimited on the Johnson Matthey facility in West Deptford, New Jersey. Constellation Energy will not only own the system, but also be responsible for its financing, operation and maintenance. In turn, Johnson Matthew will be able to purchase the electricity produced on the site under a 20-year PPA.
5N Plus Corp was given US$500,000 in funding from the State Energy Program of Wisconsin, which will go towards purchasing equipment for the facilitation of the plants solar module recycling and creation of new jobs in DeForest, Wisconsin. The 60,500 square foot facility has a US$4 million investment behind it and is expected to be operational in the next few weeks. Along with its recycling capability, it will also be manufacturing specialty compounds for thin-film PV applications.
Iosil Energy has leased a 30,700 square foot facility from Meritex in Groveport, Ohio, as the location for its pilot manufacturing of high purity polysilicon.
LDK Solar has signed a module supply deal with Czech-based PV project developer H Power. The agreement calls for LDK Solar to provide 84MW of solar modules to H Power during 2011.
Solarfun has joined JA Solar and Yingli Solar to become the third Chinese crystalline-silicon PV cell manufacturer to sign a licensing agreement with Innovalight for the Sunnyvale, CA-based company's proprietary performance-enhancing nanosilicon ink process.
JinkoSolar and Saint-Gobain Building Distribution Deutschland have signed a contract in which the Chinese PV manufacturer will supply the German company with 54MW of crystalline-silicon solar modules. The deal calls for Jinko to ship 4MW of panels to SGBDD this year, with the remaining 50MW to be supplied in 2011.
In August, Oerlikon Solar and Hunan Gongchuang Photovoltaic Science & Technology signed a contract as part of the 60-year celebration for commercial ties between China and Switzerland. Today, as part of that contract, Gongchuang has ordered a 40MW micromorph turnkey production line, which is also known as the FAB 1200. The production line is expected to start mass production by the end of 2011, with around 330,000 solar modules being manufactured per year.
Rocky Mountain Supercomputer Centers (RMSC) and Northrop Grumman have come together to introduce their maximizing and optimizing renewable energy (MORE) Power initiative. The new service is a technology that uses a laser-communications network optimization model by Northrup to help select the most effect sites for renewable energy projects. The MORE initiative will take worldwide wind and solar radiation data, which is collected by Northrop, and use it as a historical foundation in order to choose a site that will be the most productive for an alternative energy project.
Another CIGS thin-film PV manufacturer has garnered certification for its flexible modules. San Jose-based SoloPower has achieved IEC 61646 and 61730 approvals to go along with the UL 1703 it announced earlier this year, allowing the company to sell its rooftop-focused products in the U.S. and Europe. SoloPower claims to be the first among its peers to obtain both IEC certifications for its flex panels.
China Technology Development Group (CTDC) has outlined the plans for its crystalline PV module production capacity expansion. The company aims to achieve 150MW production capacity by the end of 2011 and 300MW by the end of 2012. CTDC cites an increase in market demand and its desire to maximize their value for their shareholders as reasons for their planned expansion. Additionally, the company stated that in order to further facilitate company growth, it will be actively seeking out mergers and acquisitions to complete an overall expansion.
