SolarWorld and South Korean joint-venture partner SolarPark Engineering have commissioned their first solar photovoltaic module-manufacturing factory in Asia. The plant, located in Jeonju, has a 150-MW capacity and can be expanded to 1 GW, the companies said. The companies also announced a new joint venture, SolarPark Manufacturing Equipment.
Open Energy Corp. and Suntech Power Holdings have signed an exclusive agreement licensing the worldwide manufacture, distribution, and marketing of Open Energy's building-integrated solar roof-tile product to Suntech. Open Energy has granted Suntech an exclusive license of the intellectual property incorporated into its SolarSave line of 50-W, 4-foot solar roof tile and any similar or new-generation tile roof products.
SmartSpark Energy Systems has added two fresh faces to its executive management team and reassigned a familiar one to new duties. The solar power electronics company has named Noel Foley as VP of engineering and Joseph Scarci as VP of marketing, while Frederick Krein, former president/CEO, will continue in the newly created role of VP of finance and administration.
BrightSource Energy, Inc. has signed a contract with Siemens to purchase a steam turbine generator for BrightSource’s first 100MW plant at its Ivanpah Solar Power Complex in California’s Mojave Desert. Siemens will supply the 123MW fully solar-powered steam turbine generator, which claims to be the largest of its kind to date.
Q-Cells SE has been forced to make significant revisions to its financial and manufacturing forecasts for 2008 and 2009 due to the credit crisis creating restrictions on new solar projects. The world’s largest photovoltaics manufacturer said that customer push outs had increased at short notice. The large volumes as had been pushed out are virtually impossible to place with other customers at such short notice, leading to these significant effects on the company's revenue generation.
The solar photovoltaic manufacturer formerly known as EverQ has changed its name, plans to operate independently of its parent companies, and will delay its initial public offering until financial conditions improve, according to reports in CleanTech and various German media outlets. The newly branded company, Sovello, says it will cut its ties with Evergreen Solar, Q-Cells, and REC as sales more than double and its third manufacturing line nears production readiness.
Arise Technologies' solar PV silicon division has met the fourth major milestone for its polysilicon feedstock pilot plant project. The Canadian company said that it has finished the initial construction phase of the plant and that the pilot plant-scale silicon refining furnace, manufactured by Ebner Industrieofenbau, has also been completed and is operational.
Complementing the company’s installation of a turnkey PV module manufacturing line, Spire Corp. has been commissioned to supply US$54.9 million of solar cells to the Federal Prison Industries, Inc., also known as UNICOR, at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Otisville, New York. The aim is for the FCI Otisville inmates to be trained to use the module line, thereby preparing them for employment in the growing solar industry, while the modules manufactured at the plant will be used in government installations.
At the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland recently, major players in the solar industry gathered to meet with representatives from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to discuss the role of solar energy in the ongoing fight against climate change. Suntech’s Dr. Zhengrong Shi, Solarcentury’s Jeremy Leggett and Mike Ahearn of First Solar met with UNEP’s Executive Director Achim Steiner to propose the speeding up of policies implementation to encourage uptake of solar energy as a major player in greenhouse gas reduction.
San Diego-based Green Star Alternative Energy, Inc. has revealed that its recently acquired subsidiary Notos Solar d.o.o. has signed a letter of intent for the purchase of a 5MW turnkey thin-film PV manufacturing facility from Nanergy Hungary. With this move, Notos Solar d.o.o. is opening up the Serbian solar market as it has also secured the exclusive rights of the technology for use exclusively for the Republic of Serbia and Macedonia.
