In an effort to continue environmental conservation efforts, Linde Gases has announced to its customers the opportunity to diminish their CO2 emissions by a quarter of a million tons this year by switching to on-site generated fluorine (F2) from the more traditional nitrogen trifluoride (NF3).
Innovalight has set a new record of 19% conversion efficiency for solar cells processed with the company's silicon ink. The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems measured the results on industry-standard size cells made by the materials and technology company at ISE's independent testing center in Germany.
Solaria has begun shipping its tracker-optimized, monocrystalline-silicon photovoltaic solar modules to customers in North America, Europe, and Asia. Although the company would not reveal the amount of shipments nor the financial details of any of the agreements, sources said that the modules have been designated for project-level installations.
In its "Cool Vendors in Solar Energy, 2010" report, Gartner highlights some of the solar energy start-ups to keep an eye on that it believes are developing technologies and innovations that will likely have a strong impact on the adoption of solar energy. Companies included in the review include, Applied Quantum Technology, BrightView Systems, Confluence Solar, Innovalight and Solexant.
Pan Ökoteam is using PV modules from Kyocera at one of the largest single projects to date in the Czech Republic. At the end of 2009, the plant had reached 1.6MW and is expected to expand to 4MW in 2011. With an installed capacity of 4MW in 2011 annual electricity output of 4.2 million kilowatt hours is expected and could supply about 1050 households with 2,800 tonnes of CO2 saved per year.
Trina Solar announced that its subsidiary, Changzhou Trina Solar Energy, will be introducing a new utility-scale solar module, TSM-PC14, at the May 2010 Solarexpo in Verona, Italy. The new module has a fourth quarter availability target date for sales in Europe and North America.
The latest slew of announcements from various sectors of the solar manufacturing supply chain to establish partial or complete production outsourcing is no accident and a trend that will continue grow, according to iSuppli. The market research firm noted that the latest SunPower news of a contract manufacturing deal with major electronics manufacturing services firm Flextronics is only representative of the early stages of a boom, especially in module assembly outsourcing.
Electronics manufacturing services company Flextronics will utilize production floor space in its Silicon Valley operations for a 75MW module assembly facility for SunPower. The Silicon Valley-based PV manufacturer is carrying out a solar cell capacity expansion program at its own facilities in Asia. The new subcontract production should be operational by the end of the year and will service module installations throughout the Western U.S. from its Milpitas facility. Approximately 100 jobs will be created at the facility.
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) will implement a major new solar photovoltaic program with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). The program, which was approved on April 22, will generate up to 500MW once complete.
Manz Automation has opened a development center for vacuum-coating technology in Karlstein, Germany. All of the company competences needed to develop vacuum-coating equipment and processes will now work from this location. Manz has also announced plans to set up a technical lab to develop and test new coating methods and technologies.
