Greentech Media, Inc. has announced the completion of a Series B Round of financing, raising $2.75million, and the subsequent appointment of a senior analyst to drive the company’s corporate growth. Michael Kanellos, well known in the industry for his role as CNET Green Technology Editor, brings experience in producing and analysing content to his new role as Senior Analyst for the company.
The EPIA will host the first International Conference on Thin Films in the Solar Photovoltaic sector in November 2008 in Munich, Germany. The event is being held due to the significant ramp in thin-film technologies that is expected through 2010, which could see the technology represent 20 percent of the overall PV module production capacity.
Suntech Power has reiterated its plans to achieve a name plate production capacity of 1GW in solar cells by the end of 2008. Suntech also expects total PV module shipments to reach 530MW and revenues in the range of $1.9 billion to $2.1 billion for 2008. The company plans to spend between $200 million and $300 million on capital equipment this year to add between 20 and 30 plus production lines with a nominal capacity of 30MW per annum to enable it to reach its 1GW capacity target.
XsunX has signed an agreement with Praxair for the supply of bulk industrial gases for its new multi-megawatt thin film photovoltaic (TFPV) solar manufacturing facility near Portland, Oregon.
In an effort to provide greater transparency to the photovoltaics manufacturing industry, PHOTON Consulting has launched a paid subscription-based service, tracking high-purity silicon prices, both spot and contract, dubbed the PHOTON Consulting Silicon Price Index (PCSPI).
SunPower plans to be the first silicon wafer-based photovoltaic producer to build and ramp a single 1GW facility with the announcement that it will start construction of Fab 3 in Malaysia later in 2008. The two-phase capacity expansion will see the first phase come on-stream in 2010 with 14 solar cell production lines with a nameplate capacity of 40 megawatts each. Phase two will see Fab 3 top 1GW in annual capacity, according to SunPower.
As part of wider plan to leverage advanced research at IBM to significantly reduce the cost-per-watt of solar photovoltaics from silicon cells, thin-film and concentrator photovoltaics (CPV), IBM scientists are developing a more powerful CPV technology that they claim could lead to a significant breakthrough for utility-scale applications.
Sunfilm AG has placed its second turnkey ‘SunFab’ tandem junction thin-film line order with Applied Materials. The first line (60MW) is due to come on stream in July 2008 using a tandem junction cell for greater conversion efficiencies, using ultra-large 5.7m2 glass substrates. The second line is expected to become operational in approximately one year from the start-up of the first line.
Applied Materials has launched a program that supports customers of its PV thin-film ‘SunFab’ turnkey production line with specific guarantees in respect to ramp, efficiency optimization and productivity as well as enabling continuous cost reductions based on megawatt output. Applied said that it has also signed a multiyear agreement for the service with T-Solar Global S.A. of Spain.
Technology development partners Sunovia Energy Technologies and EPIR Technologies have claimed a breakthrough in growing single crystalline CdTe/Si more rapidly in a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) tool that could lead to the faster commercialization of their proprietary solar cell technology.
