Kyocera Corporation is to construct a new large-scale solar cell manufacturing facility, which will be located in Yasu City, Shiga Prefecture, and will be the largest of the Kyocera Group’s Japan-based solar cell manufacturing plants. The new plant will manufacture the Back Contact Cell, developed in 2006, which achieves an 18.5% energy conversion efficiency rate. Construction is scheduled to start in 2009 with completion within the year so that production can begin in the spring of 2010.
Concentrator photovoltaics company SolFocus has introduced a CPV system targeting the medium- and utility-scale markets. The SolFocus 1100S can achieve panel efficiencies of 25%, resulting in systems which the company says produce the highest energy density and energy yield of any PV systems on the market.
Hoku Materials has signed a silicon metal supply agreement with Polymet Alloys. The wholly owned subsidiary of Hoku Scientific said it plans to use the metallurgical-grade silicon for the production of trichlorosilane, a critical raw material in the manufacture of solar-grade polysilicon.
Clal Energy, the energy division of IDB, and Tigo Energy have signed an agreement to distribute Tigo Energy products and technologies for the enhancement of energy output across a wide range of renewable energy projects.
A new analysis from iSuppli forecasts that the price of polysilicon will begin a "precipitous plunge in 2009 after peaking this year," as the supply of the raw material exceeds demand. At fault, according to the research firm, are "fundamental imbalances in the solar supply chain." After peaking at as high as $500 per kilogram this year and suppliers largely dictating terms to customers during a three-year price rise, the report sees the average spot market price for poly dropping next year to as low as $200 per kilogram.
Oerlikon Solar said it was now able to produce a-Si thin film modules with than 7% stabilized efficiency, enabling a 16% increase in panel power output. Its new ‘Amorph High Performance’ process uses a specially developed Zinc Oxide TCO layer, which Oerlikon Solar claims, significantly increases the performance characteristics of the panel through better light trapping properties. The company said that it had already been granted the requisite master certificates from TÜV.
NanoGram and Tokyo Electron have signed a joint technology agreement focused on the development of thin-film process equipment based on the cleantech company's proprietary laser reactive deposition (LRD) process for thin crystalline silicon films.
GT Solar’s order backlog in its just posted second quarter financial results topped $292 million, resulting in its total order backlog exceeding $1.4 billion, up from $1.26 billion at the end of the first quarter. GT Solar also shipped more than 200 DSS furnaces to the solar market with many orders shipped ahead of schedule due to customer demand, the company said.
Panasonic Corporation and Sanyo Electric have started formal discussions that could lead to Panasonic acquiring Sanyo. A possible deal could be concluded by the end of December, 2008, the companies stated. The companies claimed that direct synergies between the two companies meant that the deal was highly likely.
Blue Square Energy (BSE) announced its production of a 14.6 percent efficiency solar cell using its Bright Point technology. The result is the highest on upgraded metallurgical grade (UMG) silicon and was verified independently by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
