SunPower Corp. has completed construction of its 350kW solar power installation on the Crowne Plaza Hotel rooftop in Alice Springs, Australia, the largest roof-mounted solar power system on the continent. Invest North Pty Ltd. is the owner of the project.
"Because we know we can't power America's future on energy that's controlled by foreign dictators, we are taking a big step down the road to energy independence and laying the groundwork for a new green energy economy that can create countless well-paying jobs," said President Barack Obama after signing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act today in Denver. Two leading solar industry trade associations issued statements supporting the signing of the $787 billion package, citing several provisions in the stimulus program that will help the sector.
OTB Solar has ordered resonance ultrasonic vibrations crack detection equipment from RUV Systems for use with its automated turnkey solar-cell manufacturing production lines. The inspection gear will also be offered as an "extra-quality feature" of the integrated manufacturing systems.
Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd has officially announced the construction of a new solar cell manufacturing plant at its Nishikinohama Factory, Kaizuka City, Osaka, Japan. Groundbreaking took place on February 17th, 2009 with the new facility expected to be completed in October 2009. The new facility will be dedicated to the production of Sanyo’s Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer (HIT) solar cells. The company also announced that HIT production at its Shimane Plant in Unnan City, Shimane Prefecture, Japan will also be expanded to meet demand for its HIT solar cells in Japan and Europe.
Corus Colors and Dyesol held their third milestone meeting for their collaborative project last Wednesday at the PV Accelerator. The companies are working together to develop product, processes and facilities that will produce Dye Solar Cells (DSC) integrated onto strip steel in a coil coating line.
Arava Power, a joint venture of Kibbutz Ketura and foreign backers led by Yosef Abramowitz, announced that is has won approval from the Israel Electric Company (IEC) to build an 80MW solar PV field on kibbutz land in the Arava. IEC issued its approval once it had determined that it could run a line from the Arava to the national grid.
Preliminary financial results published by PV module manufacturer, Centrosolar Group AG, reveal a new revenue record of €331.8 million in 2008, more than a 50% increase in revenue of €220.3 million for 2007. According to the company, sales actually exceeded the revenue target of €310 million set at the beginning of 2008.
CaliSolar has chosen Eyelit to provide its factory automation, manufacturing execution, quality, and asset management software suite to support the upgraded metallurgical-grade silicon (UMG-Si) solar cell company in its production ramp of a new, fully integrated facility in Sunnyvale, CA.
Yingli Green Energy has not altered its 2009 module shipment guidance, despite the global economic downturn and module oversupply in the solar industry. Yingli Green expects module shipments to be between 550MW-600MW in 2009. This represents an increase of 96.1% to 113.9% compared to fiscal year 2008.
Schneider Electric subsidiary Xantrex Technology, Inc. has announced the launch of the Xantrex GT500E and the Xantrex GT250E Three Phase Grid Tie Solar Inverters for the Italian market.
