Bloo Solar’s Solar Brush wafer development production has begun and with the hopes to bring the commercial modules to market in 2012, the company has chosen CVD Equipment Corp. to develop and manufacture the equipment for the solar module.
Lagofrio Energy Solutions (LES), a wholly-owned subsidiary of TinSol Energy (TSEL) South Africa, has placed a US$210 million contract with Fidelis Energy to Supply 93MW of PV modules for several solar parks across Africa. Fidelis will begin shipments during the first quarter of 2011 as its module plant in China is expected to come on-stream during the fourth quarter of 2010.
Five-years after starting production of its copper-indium-sulfide (CIS) thin-film solar modules, Berlin-based Sulfurcell plans to set-up a North American network of system integrators and installers. As with the perceived consumer concerns for more aesthetic looking PV modules, Sulfurcell believes its ‘black-tile aesthetics’ will prove popular in that market. Sulfurcell will be offering framed, frameless, and roof-integrated modules.
Yingli Green Energy Americas, a subsidiary of Yingli Green Energy Holding Company, has signed a strategic PV module supply agreement with DC Power Systems. The agreement will last through the end of this year and is one of the largest supply agreements in the US for Yingli this year and the largest between the two companies to date.
Under the agreement signed by SunEdison and LaSalle Investment Management, SunEdison will finance, build, own, operate, monitor and maintain eight PV solar energy systems, which total a capacity of 2.1MW. The roof-top installations will be located on LaSalle facilities with the Ontario Power Authority purchasing the energy under the Ontario Feed-In Tariff program.
Located on a former military site, AES Solaire France has launched its 1.2MW ground-mounted solar PV power plant. The Sault (Vaucluse), France, site previously housed a nuclear missile from the mid-1960s until it was dismantled in the late 1990s.
Germanium solar cell substrate producer Sylarus Technologies has entered into a long-term germanium feedstock supply and recycling agreement with 5N Plus. The deal is supported by 5N Plus agreeing to the subscription of a convertible debt in Sylarus, which in turn supports the substrate manufacturers' expansion plans.
GCL-Poly has updated its solar wafer capacity expansion plans, highlighting that it expects to reach 2GW by the end of October 2010. Previously, GCL-Poly had said this figure would be reached by the end of the year. The company also noted that wafer capacity has reached 1.2GW.
Array Technologies' DuraTrack HZ solar tracker has been selected by American Capital Energy (ACE) for use in a 20MW solar photovoltaic power plant being constructed near Searchlight, Nevada. The project is the result of an agreement between ACE and NV Energy to assist NV Energy in meeting Nevada's portfolio standard, which requires that 25% of energy be generated by renewable resources and energy efficiency and conservation programs by 2025.
Continued capacity ramp at OCI could see the Korean-based polysilicon manufacturer become the world’s second largest producer on the back of another 5,000 metric ton (MT) expansion. The construction will begin in June 2010, with completion expected by October 2011 at a total cost of KRW 220 billion. The new expansion at its existing facility Gunsan, Jeollabukdo, Korea would result in a capacity of 32,000MT per annum with one of the lowest manufacturing costs.
