Suniva has achieved record conversion efficiencies on its monocrystalline-silicon solar cells and started production on its second manufacturing line. The Norcross, GA-based company said that its ARTisun cells are achieving efficiencies of better than 18%, which the firms claims is a record for screen-printed cells in full-scale production. Its newly commissioned manufacturing line will add 64MWp of cell-making capacity to the existing 32MWp line opened in October 2008, pushing the firm's total production capability threefold to nearly 100MW.
Solar cell researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia, claim the highest efficiency for solar power ever recorded, announcing a new world record of 43% of sunlight converted into electricity at the research stage.
Sunovia Energy Technologies and EPIR Technologies have expanded their R&D and pilot production facilities in Bolingbrook, IL. The partners said that the facility expansion allows them to begin optimization of their high-efficiency, low-cost cadmium telluride on silicon (CdTe/Si) concentrated photovoltaic devices. Once optimized, pilot-scale production will begin at the same facility.
Roger Welser has joined Magnolia Solar as its chief technology officer. He will be responsible for leading the development of next-generation high-performance solar cells using advanced nanostructured materials at the Woburn, MA-based company.
It has been an interesting month for Australia in terms of renewable energy policies, with the to-ing and fro-ing of whether the country's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) legislation will pass or not.
Circadian Solar, a UK based developer of CPV, has gained the approval of an investment of £2m by Seven Spires Investments (SSIL). This is the second tranche of an investment of £8m planned to be rolled out over three years by SSIL.
OC Oerlikon has brought in new Delegate of the Board of Directors and acting Chief Executive Officer, Hans Ziegler to replace Dr. Uwe Krüger who has been in the role since May 2007. This change comes amid OC Oerlikon's semiannual results, which report sales and order depletion in the first half of 2009.
Xunlight has delivered a shipment of its flexible triple-junction thin-silicon photovoltaic modules to the University of Toledo. The modules will be part of a 10KW array to be installed at the university's Scott Park Campus of Energy and Innovation (SPCEI). The company said this is the first shipment of modules to be manufactured on its new 25MW roll-to-roll production line.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has approved two 25-year power purchase agreements between Pacific Gas and Electric and BrightSource Energy for electricity generated at a pair of concentrating solar-thermal power stations scheduled to be built in the deserts of Southern California. The initial project, a 110MW power plant in Ivanpah Solar Power Complex, will be located on six square miles of land about 50 miles northwest of Needles in the Mojave Desert and is slated to begin operations by July 2012. A second, 200MW installation is scheduled to start operating a year later at the site.
