Advent Solar, Inc. has enlisted the entrepreneurial skills of Martin Hermann to take up the role of Chief Strategic Officer. Mr. Hermann brings over 17 years of entrepreneurial and management experience to the role, which will see him assume responsibility for Advent Solar’s business development, planning, strategy and growth.
AT&S and Solland Solar have announced their intention to collaborate on the development of a concept for solar cell applications. AT&S, the printed circuit board producer, and Solland Solar, manufacturer of standard and back-contact solar cells, have entered into the development partnership in an effort to reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of solar cells.
Yingli Green Energy has signed a supply agreement with Enfinity Management, bvba for the delivery of 10MW of PV modules to the renewable energy project developer. The modules will be delivered to Enfinity between July and December 2008.
Yingli Green Energy has said that in late June 2008, it started small-scale production of polysilicon ingots, wafers, PV cells and PV modules from its latest 200MW expansion project. Tool installation is ongoing and on time, the company said.
Researchers of hybrid solar cell fabrication at Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU) in Munich have ordered an advanced sputtering tool from U.K.-based Surrey NanoSystems. The tool will be used in the creation of high-efficiency interconnection templates for organic materials, thereby greatly increasing the efficiency of the cells, according to LMU.
In conjunction with its Annual Shareholder Meeting, Ascent Solar Technologies said that the company was evaluating whether to bring forward its planned 110MW production capacity of its thin-film modules. The firm is currently in development and limited production operations with its 1.5MW line that is expected to be in full-scale production by the end of 2008.
Entegris has established a wholly-owned subsidiary in Bangalore, India to provide support of the company’s product portfolio for the photovoltaics and microelectronics industries. Entitled Entegris Materials Integrity India Pvt. Ltd., the division will be led by Badarish Appanna, and will incorporate support for activities such as wafer and mask handling and shipping, subsystem and fluid handling products and finished electric products.
Centrosolar has signed a four-year supply agreement with United Solar Ovonic, a subsidiary of Energy Conversion Devices for the use of its flexible thin-film solar cell product for the building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) market. Although the megawatt amount was not disclosed, the companies said that the supply contract was ‘substantial.’
Trina Solar Limited has announced the signing of a solar module supply agreement with ERGYCA Power Srl, a subsidiary of GreenergyCapital SpA. Under the terms of the fixed-price agreement, Trina Solar will provide GreenergyCapital with modules to the value of US$158 million over a three-year period.
Ascent Solar Technologies has been selected by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) for a Broad Agency Announcement award to develop high-performance thin-film multijunction solar cells based on the company’s flexible monolithically integrated CIGS technology. The collaboration will see the AFRL pay Ascent approximately $1.5 million over the next 48 months.
