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.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has put a halt on 125 applications for solar energy power plant projects on public land in six western states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The BLM said that this equated to almost one million acres with the potential to generate 70 billion watts of electricity, or enough to power 20 million average American homes.
Yingli Green Energy has announced its receipt of four new sales contracts for provision of 64MW of PV modules in total. The four contracts are composed of twin orders from two companies, namely, Conergy AG and GeckoLogic GmbH, and were entered into at the Intersolar Trade Fair in Munich in June 2008.
Umicore is to double the production of germanium substrates used for high-efficiency solar cells with the construction of a new manufacturing facility in Quapaw, Oklahoma, U.S.A. Construction is expected to start in July 2008, and to be completed in the spring of 2010, allowing Umicore to achieve a company total wafer run rate of 900,000 per annum when fully ramped.
China Sunergy has signed a wafer supply agreement with REC Wafer for supply of monocrystalline 156mm wafers over a seven-year period from early 2009 to 2015. The agreement will see China Sunergy pay in excess of $400 million for the wafers, the amount and price of which are fixed according to the wafer thickness and year of shipment.
