Concentrix Solar officially inaugurated its production line for concentrator solar photovoltaic modules during ceremonies held Friday at its Freiburg, Germany, location. The fully automated 25-MW capacity facility, which can be expanded to 100 MW, has been running since September and shipping product since October. The factory is one of the few industrial-scale CPV manufacturing lines in operation.
The European Investment Bank will lend €40 million to Thin Film Solar Technologies to support the construction of a 30-MWp production facility for CIGSSe photovoltaic modules in Paarl, located in the Western Cape region of South Africa.The plant will hire up 150 employees, who will receive training and specialist skills development.
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has named his selection to head the American Energy Department. Steven Chu, former co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics (1997), Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and founder of the Helios Solar Energy Research Center (SERC), has accepted the post that will see Dr. Chu instrumental in the allocation of Obama’s planned $150 billion investment in alternative energy technologies. Dr. Chu will work alongside Carol Browner, who will head the national energy council and led the Environmental Protection Agency under Bill Clinton.
According to a Forbes report, major investment banks Goldman Sachs and CDH Investment have together contributed close to US$100 million in Himin Solar Energy Group, a solar module manufacturer based in eastern China's Shandong province. The investment, which was announced earlier in the year but delayed because of the global economic crisis, has been earmarked for aiding in company growth and R&D.
The APOLLON project, a Europe-wide cooperation of PV research institutions, has accepted SolarTec AG’s application to become an industrial partner. In this role, SolarTec will develop a new concentrator system for the project, which is based on the fields of ‘PF’ (Point Focus) and ‘High Density-Mirror Based Spectra Splitting.’ SolarTec was chosen for participation from an applicant base of more than 400, including renowned research institutes.
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.
