Schott Solar will shutter its 15-MW module manufacturing facility in Billerica, MA, effective July 31 as part of efforts to streamline its global manufacturing operations. The move will affect 180 full-time employees and 45 temporary workers at the plant, although the company said it will offer jobs to those affected at other sites where available.
The Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory has tapped Optomec's aerosol jet deposition system to be part of its atmospheric processing platform in the Process Development and Integration Lab in Golden, CO. The noncontact system will be used primarily to develop deposition processes for metallization and coatings to reduce the cost of production of crystalline silicon and thin-film solar photovoltaic cells.
In a planned three-year effort to reduce the cost of producing crystalline silicon solar cells by reducing and the amount of Si/Watt that is needed by half and boost conversion efficiencies to approximately 20%, SCHOTT Solar has joined IMEC's newly launched silicon photovoltaics industrial affiliation program (IIAP). The program is expected to see silicon solar cell manufacturers, equipment and material suppliers collaborate and share intellectual property, talent, risk and costs involved in the project.
The Cell Award event at Intersolar Munich on May 28 highlighted some of the best tools, technologies and regions from the PV manufacturing elite. The event was initiated to address the need for an independently-judged platform upon which to assess the most successful and esteemed technologies and potentials in the solar industry.
With amorphous silicon-based thin film technologies under pressure to boost conversion efficiencies to remain competitive with both CdTe and crystalline-based technologies, Oerlikon Solar has claimed that its own pilot production line has now seen full-size ‘Micromorph’ modules (1.4 m2) produce 151 Watts initial power, equivalent to 11% percent initial power conversion efficiency. According to the company, this is a new efficiency record for the technology.
The SEMI PV Group, the special interest group that serves the photovoltaic supply chain, has made available a report on “China’s Solar Future,” prepared by the China PV Advisory Committee, organized by the PV Group, and comprising China PV industry and academic leaders. The report presents specific recommendations for a China PV policy roadmap; in particular, the need for an accelerated adoption of PV generated electric power in China.
A 10-MW solar photovoltaic power plant near Masdar City, Abu Dhabi--said to be the largest of its kind in the Middle East/North Africa region--has been activated and connected to the grid. The project, which began construction in January, was designed and built by local solar integrator Enviromena Power System. Electricity from the 55-acre installation will help provide energy for the initial construction work at Masdar City.
GT Solar International, Inc. announced that its chief financial officer Robert Woodbury has resigned effective immediately for personal reasons. Woodbury has served as CFO of GT Solar since January 2008. Richard Johnson, vice president, finance and controller, will lead the finance organization on an interim basis.
Under the terms of a deal announced at Intersolar Europe this week, RGE Energy will use hundreds of thousands of BP Solar crystalline-silicon PV panels for 66 MW of installations, including a 46-MWp plant to be built in Koethen, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The project launch is planned for the third quarter; the approval procedure is being processed, and by the end of the year, all of the 220-W modules should be set for installation, the companies said.
Troubled solar materials supplier Timminco has ratified and approved the terms of a new collective bargaining deal with its hourly workforce at the company's Becancour, Quebec, facilities. More than 93% of the unionized employees, who are represented by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, Local 184, voted in favor of the new terms, which will apply for five years ending in April 2013.
