A CNET news story published yesterday outlined Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) major plans for investment in solar energy for several Californian communities. The announcement was made at the Clean Tech Investor Summit, which has been taking place over the past two days in Palm Springs, California. PG&E’s CEO Peter Darbee is cited as having said that the company’s planned investment would be “significant”, and on a par with Southern California Edison's solar program to spend $850 million over five years.
Somont has received an order for delivery of its “RAPID” automatic string soldering systems to the value of €14.5 million, the company has announced. The 3S Industries AG subsidiary will deliver the machines to REC’s new solar factory in Tuas, Singapore, where they will be installed at the site and will be instrumental in REC’s aim of reaching capacity of 740MW of wafers, 550MW of solar cells and 590MW of solar modules by 2012.
Howard Berke, executive chairman and cofounder of organic photovoltaics company Konarka, has joined the board of directors of the Solar Electric Industries Association (SEIA). The move comes after Berke completed a four-year stint on the board of the American Council on Renewable Energy.
Mumbai-based Refex Energy has signed an MoU with the energy and petrochemicals State department of Gujarat approving its plans to construct a 50MW solar power plant in the region, according to a report in The Economic Times, India. The company intends to start work on the first phase of the 50MW capacity in 2009, with the remainder of the phases to be completed in stages.
Open Energy Corporation has decided to change its name to Applied Solar, Inc. The company’s name and strategy change arose from its decision to shift the company focus from a manufacturing model to a licensing model to better market its BIPV products. The name is intended to reflect the company’s move toward a new business model, which will focus more on commercial and residential solar technologies, while the recent signing of a manufacturing, distribution and marketing agreement with a Suntech affiliate should cement the company’s decision to concentrate on research and development.
Michael Sullivan, a former investor relations manager for Intel Corp., has taken up a role as Vice President of Investor Relations with Applied Materials, Inc. He brings more that 16 years of experience with Intel, including management roles in Corporate Media and Public Relations to Applied. The new role will see him hold responsibility for the company’s relationships with investors, financial analysts and the financial community. Mr. Sullivan has a B.A. degree from San Jose State University and an M.B.A. from Santa Clara University.
The GP Solar unit of centrotherm photovolaics landed its first major order for its Inspect line of optical measurement systems designed for use in solar PV production. GP said the tools will be supplied to a gigawatt-scale factory being built in Southeast Asia by an unnamed major European solar-cell manufacturer.
Solyndra has opened its European headquarters in Holzkirchen, Germany, near Munich and tapped Clemens Jargon to head the thin-film PV company's sales and service operations in the region.
LDK Solar has said that it started polysilicon production at its first 1,000MT plant on January 14th, 2009, 11 months after starting construction at its production complex in Xinyu City, China. A ceremony was held with the Governor of Jiangxi, Mr. Wu Xinxiong attending as well as the entire construction workforce.
In a deal said to be worth more than $150 million, Perfectenergy International Ltd. has signed a one-year module sales agreement with Abidas AG. Perfectenergy will supply 50MW of monocrystalline solar modules to the German company over the four quarters of 2009, at a price that has been fixed until June 2009. The modules will be manufactured at Perfectenergy's 60MW factory in Shanghai, China.
