Robert Lieberman has joined Spire Corp. as corporate controller, bringing more than 25 years of manufacturing and distribution experience to the role. As corporate controller, he will be shouldered with responsibility for Spire’s financial dealings, and working on improving existing processes and business efficiencies.
Jetion Holdings, a solar-cell manufacturer, dismissed its chief executive and three senior managers for alleged “breaches of their service contracts and fiduciary duties”. The board dismissed the four staff on the grounds that they are operators and shareholders of a solar module producer and exporter that competes with Jetion.
RF and DC power supplier Comdel, Inc. has applied its experience to the photovoltaics industry and has been tapped to supply its CXH 50k 40MHz generator for solar applications to an unnamed Korean solar company. The CXH generator is one of the highest frequency and power generators for solar applications, and will be used in the production of glass-type solar cells.
SoloPower today became the first US ANSI/UL 1703-certified manufacturer of flat-plate, CIGS-based (copper-indium-gallium-selenide) PV modules. The Silicon Valley-based producer of thin-film solar photovoltaic cells and modules is well on the way to its goal of mass-producing PV modules.
South Africa-based solar panel and component provider Solar Vision, a former wholly-owned subsidiary of REC Group, has been sold through a management buyout. Following the decision that Solar Vision was no longer considered to be a core business for the Norway-based company, the Solar Vision was divested through a management buyout.
The Indian Government is set to initiate a three-phase strategy to significantly increase the country’s adoption of solar energy, according to a detailed analysis and exclusive checks made by Barclays Capital Solar Analysts, Vishal Shah and his team. The program, which is part of India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change, also provides customs and excise duty exemptions on capital equipment and other critical materials to help build a sustainable infrastructure that includes between 2-3 dedicated PV industrial parks and polysilicon production plants to meet the targets of 20GW of solar generation capacity by 2020, 100GW by 2030 and 200GW by 2050.
With outline plans for three 242MW solar thermal power plants, the recent signing of power purchase agreements between Solar Millennium, LLC, and Southern California Edison is a boon for California’s solar industry. The agreements detail the construction of two 242MW solar thermal plants, with the option to proceed with the third, subject to approval of the California Public Utilities Commission. Operation of the three parabolic trough solar power projects is expected to begin in 2013-14.
Despatch Industries’ infrared firing furnace has received a patent, bringing the company’s patent portfolio to over 30, both domestic and international. The firing furnace, while used mainly for the solar cell manufacturing process, it can, says the company, be used in a variety of industries for heating/treating applications of any material that can benefit from controlled infrared radiation.
Focussing its research capabilities on the thin-film sector, LG Display is looking to the future of solar energy with its recent investment of 50 billion won ($40 million) in a pilot line and testing facility for solar cells. The pilot line will be built in LG’s Paju display complex in Korea later this year, while an outdoor test power generation facility will also be constructed at the site.
Solar Power, Inc. (SPI) has completed a supply agreement for a total of 2MW of solar modules with Germany-based residential and commercial solar installers Bayer and Raach. SPI will supply 1MW of 200W panels and 1MW of its proprietary SkyMount commercial mounting systems for minimal commercial rooftop applications. The cost and delivery times of the agreement were not disclosed.
