Trina Solar announced that its subsidiary, Changzhou Trina Solar Energy, will be introducing a new utility-scale solar module, TSM-PC14, at the May 2010 Solarexpo in Verona, Italy. The new module has a fourth quarter availability target date for sales in Europe and North America.
The latest slew of announcements from various sectors of the solar manufacturing supply chain to establish partial or complete production outsourcing is no accident and a trend that will continue grow, according to iSuppli. The market research firm noted that the latest SunPower news of a contract manufacturing deal with major electronics manufacturing services firm Flextronics is only representative of the early stages of a boom, especially in module assembly outsourcing.
Electronics manufacturing services company Flextronics will utilize production floor space in its Silicon Valley operations for a 75MW module assembly facility for SunPower. The Silicon Valley-based PV manufacturer is carrying out a solar cell capacity expansion program at its own facilities in Asia. The new subcontract production should be operational by the end of the year and will service module installations throughout the Western U.S. from its Milpitas facility. Approximately 100 jobs will be created at the facility.
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) will implement a major new solar photovoltaic program with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). The program, which was approved on April 22, will generate up to 500MW once complete.
Manz Automation has opened a development center for vacuum-coating technology in Karlstein, Germany. All of the company competences needed to develop vacuum-coating equipment and processes will now work from this location. Manz has also announced plans to set up a technical lab to develop and test new coating methods and technologies.
Phoenix Solar has released its annual report, which includes the consolidated financial statements from their 2009 financial year. The company shows a growth in total revenue of €473 million, up from 2008’s €402.5 million. In addition, their module sales increased by around 70%, from 120MW in 2008 to more than 200MW in 2009.
Mercury Solar Systems and the US Department of Energy’s NREL have formed a partnership in the name of solar energy research advancement. The NREL will take data from its own long-term research of Mercury’s solar test-bed. The system will be built on Mercury’s corporate headquarters roof in New York with full operation slated to begin by the end of the summer. The project was partially financed with a grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
GWS Technologies has begun selecting German technology partners for the development of alternative energy installations and facilities in Mexico and Central America.
Constellation Energy will develop a 1.8MW solar PV system at the McCormick distribution center in Belcamp, Md. Once complete, this will be the largest single rooftop solar installation in Maryland, and the second solar installation developed for McCormick by Constellation Energy.
Duke Energy has announced that ten new customer sites across North Carolina will have solar panels installed on their building or grounds as part of the company's distributed solar generation program. Duke Energy launched the program back in October 2009, when roof space was leased from four large manufacturing and commercial facilities for placement of solar panels.
