Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm has announced that Georgia-based Suniva will invest US$250 million in a new solar manufacturing facility in Saginaw County's Thomas Township. With this development, Suniva will create 500 new jobs over the next five years subject to receiving a Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee, which the company recently applied for.
The U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory has adopted Synopsys' Sentaurus TCAD package for simulating solar cell characteristics to improve performance. The lab recently implemented the simulation software to create both thin-film and silicon PV cell models.
Terry Bailey has taken over the chairman and CEO reins at Soliant Energy, a concentrated photovoltaics company based in Monrovia, CA. Bailey, who replaces interim CEO Marco DeMiroz, recently left Evergreen Solar, where he was senior VP of marketing and sales.
IMEC and BP Solar have demonstrated 18% conversion efficiency for silicon solar cells developed using BP Solar's Mono2 silicon. IMEC's processing techniques and BP Solar's low-cost substrates make it possible to produce a solar cell that is both efficient and low in price.
In the move toward the widespread uptake of building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), Dow Chemical has unveiled the Dow Powerhouse solar shingle. The BIPV technology incorporates solar panel capability in the form of a building material.
Satcon has signed a collaborative deal with Canadian Solar that will see the companies market their products to customers as a “best-in-class system solution”. Canadian Solar’s solar PV systems will be marketed with Satcon’s solar inverters, providing a single solution for rooftop solar energy generation. The agreement also complies with the Ontario government’s domestic content requirements in its recently announced feed-in-tariff program.
In an update to its business divisions trading conditions, REC Group didn’t have much positive to say. Its polysilicon production ramp at Silicon III, which had initial ramp problems will struggle to meet full year output targets, while its wafer division is having to further revise pricing for 2010 due to the weak market, impacting profit margins. On the solar module front, REC noted that prices are expected to have fallen 35% in 2009 as the glut in finished products continues.
Appearing once again in the news, DayStar Technologies has shaken up its management with a new CEO appointment. Michael Matvieshen, CEO of EPOD Solar which recently announced a merger with DayStar, will replace Robert Aldrich (pictured) who recently resigned from his four-month CEO role.
Moving forward the development of the proposed 100MW JOAN1 concentrated solar thermal power (CSP) project, Ausra has been selected as the supplier of solar steam boilers. With this selection, the development of the plant in Ma'an, Jordan is going ahead as planned.
Italian state-operated energy agency, GSE has told Reuters that photovoltaic module installations reached 173MW for the first 8-months of the year, taking the cumulative capacity to above 630MW. The agency expects its target of 900MW cumulative capacity for 2009 to be exceeded, though did not provide a new projected figure.
