On 29 November 2008, Professor Dr. Adolf Goetzberger, the founder of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, ISE turned 80 years old. In 1976, Goetzberger was well-known semiconductor expert and head of a research institute with 180 employees, but in 1981, he decided to head out on his own and start the Fraunhofer ISE with only 18 employees. Today the ISE has grown to employee more than 800 people for the advancement of solar energy.
Suntech Power Holdings said that there has been an accident at its solar photovoltaic module production facilities in Wuxi, China. Seven Suntech employees were injured on Nov. 28 as a result of a malfunctioning piece of module lamination equipment at the company's plant. The injured employees are receiving further medical treatment and are recovering in hospital, the company added.
With Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp and local community leaders looking on, FPL broke ground on its 75MW Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center, the world’s first hybrid solar energy plant and first utility-scale solar facility in Florida. It is the first hybrid solar facility to combine a solar-thermal field with a combined-cycle natural gas power plant.
EPV Solar Germany GmbH has produced its first amorphous silicon thin-film modules at its Senftenberg, Germany factory. Commercial volumes of the thin-film solar modules will be available for sale in January 2009. The facility has a 30MW capacity, equal to 500,000 55W modules per year that will be used in large solar parks and PV arrays in Germany and southern Europe.
Southern California Edison has completed the first of its proposed 150 solar photovoltaic installations on Southern California commercial rooftops. The company says the project could eventually cover two square miles of existing commercial roofs with 250 MW of peak-generating capacity. First Solar engineered the rooftop system, manufactured the solar thin-film modules, and supplied the balance-of-system equipment for the initial project and has also been chosen by SCE to supply panels for the second installation.
Meyer Burger Ltd. has announced a tool win from Wacker Schott Solar GmbH. The order will include wire and cropping saws with the first shipments being deliverd some time in Q1 2009. The full contract, which extends over at least three years, will be delivered in stages on the basis of a call off clause.
On the 26th of November three pieces of legislation received Royal assent and were passed into law. Key for the Solar industry is the Energy Bill which has now been amended to include feed in tariffs for renewable power generation. Other laws passed include the Climate Change bill, which sets up the UK for an aggressive 80% reduction in green house gas emmisions by 2050. The Planning Bill will simplify planning permission for energy infrastructure projects.Photovoltaics International reported in depth on this bill during October. Read our report here.
German company Johanna Solar Technology has started production on its copper-indium-gallium-sulphur-selenium (CIGSSe) thin-film solar photovoltaic glass-module manufacturing line. The panels made at the 30-MW factory will be distributed by aleo solar starting in summer 2009.
Tokuyama Corp. plans to build a polycrystalline silicon manufacturing facility in Malaysia and expand capacity at its original factory in Japan. The chemical company awarded the front-end engineering design contract for the Malaysian plant to Japanese construction firm, Chiyoda Corp.
When the New South Wales (NSW) Minister for Climate Change, Carmel Tebbutt, was asked what the government was doing to promote renewable energy, she confirmed the speculation that the NSW government would be introducing a solar feed-in tariff. Tebbutt claimed that it would be a way to abide by the mandatory renewable energy target of 20% energy from renewable sources by 2020.
