Shuichi Fujii has been designated by Dow Corning as Global Major Market Leader for Feedstock and Active Device Products in its Solar Market Business Unit. He will also be the Solar Market Business Unit leader for Dow Corning Toray Co., Ltd., which is a joint venture between Dow Corning and Toray Industries.
Oerlikon Solar recently chose Robert Gattereder for the newly created position of Senior VP New Business where he will be expanding the business opportunities for the company. He brings over 15 years of operational experience with global industrial companies and has held senior management positions in finance, procurement, marketing and business development in the solar industry and industrial infrastructure.
SolFocus has been awarded a contract worth $103 million to supply more than 10MW of its CPV modules to EMPE Solar for project to be deployed in Spain through 2010. According to the company, the new project will be the the largest deployment of CPV technology in Europe, and will be capable of meeting the domestic energy requirements for a city of approximately 40,000 residents. SolFocus recently completed two utility-scale CPV projects (3MW total) for the Institute of Concentration Photovoltaic Systems (ISFOC) in Spain.
Nabeel Gareeb, President and Chief Executive Officer of MEMC resigned his executive position and seat on the Board of the major polysilicon supplier to the semiconductor and photovoltaics industries. Gareeb will assist in a transition through the end of 2008, while Board member Marshall Turner will serve as interim CEO, effective November 12, 2008. The search for a permanent replacement for Gareeb will be conducted during this period.
Sixtron has recently announced the selection of Bates M. Marshall as Vice President for Sales and Marketing, beginning immediately. Marshall carries with him near 15 years of sales and marketing experience in the semiconductor, solar, flat panel display and related markets.
AXT, Inc., a company that manufacturers compound semiconductor substrates, publicized its charter membership in the CPV Consortium, a global industry organization that aids the growth and long-term success of the concentrator photovoltaics (CPV) industry with the aim to provide a low-cost, dependable source of energy. APX joins 3M, Concentrix, Emcore, ISFOC, Isofoton, Solfocus and Veeco as members.
Three North Carolina companies have come together to purchase, build, own and operate a former landfill for a large-scale solar energy project in the western part of the state. Progress Energy Carolinas signed an agreement with FLS Energy to purchase the output from a 1 MW solar power plant on the former landfill site that is owned by Evergreen Packaging, Incorporated. FLS will build, own and operate the solar PV project and sell the energy produced back to the utility so that it can be distributed to its customers.
At a two day event held in Atlantis, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai, Mr. Sultan bin Sulayem, Chairman of Dubai World (pictured), announced the establishment of a photovoltaics manufacturing company, dubbed Solar Technologies FZE, which will build and operate a 130MW production plant in Dubai’s Technopark. Future plans include establishing manufacturing facilities in China, Mexico and Bulgaria, which will increase the total production capacity to 1GW by 2015.
Nitrogen trifluoride used in semiconductor, thin film solar and other electronics manufacturing has been found to be in greater quantities in the atmosphere than previously estimated and is increasing at about 11 percent per annum, according to new research using new analytical techniques, NASA said.
Honda Soltec said it will start selling copper-indium-gallium-(di)selenide thin-film-based solar modules for public and industrial use throughout Japan on Friday. The Honda solar subsidiary has sold photovoltaic modules for home use since October 2007, and now the company intends to expand its customer base by manufacturing and selling solar units capable of the high-capacity electrical generation required by public and industrial facilities.
