A new joint venture crystalline solar cell manufacturer has been created with the announcement that Munich, Germany-based PV systems manufacturer Centrosolar Group AG and Munich-headquartered Qimonda AG plan to build and operate a 100MWp facility at Qimonda’s Vila do Conde, Portugal semiconductor packaging plant. Qimonda is a major semiconductor memory manufacturer.
Polysilicon shortages are not only limiting the potential growth of the PV industry but are continuing to impact manufacturing costs, according to Dr. Henning Wicht, Senior Director and Principal Analyst, MEMS and PV for iSuppli. Costs are rising rather than falling, forcing PV manufacturers to establish their own polysilicon production as well as seek cost saving elsewhere.
Sunovia announced yesterday that it had completed its next round of financing and was devoting these resources to the company’s plans for manufacturing CdTe solar cells. More than $25 million has been invested into the companies' core CdTe research, development and design for the high-throughput CdTe-based manufacturing facility. Sunovia’s move to mainstream commercial solar is a departure from its background as a supplier of niche solar products for NASA and the military.
PVA TePla AG has said that it has received its largest single order for crystal growing systems in the company’s history, valued at €76 million. The order comes from ASi Industries GmbH, Arnstadt, Germany - a wholly-owned subsidiary of ersol Solar Energy AG.
First Reserve Corporation, a private equity firm specializing in the energy industry, has said it will invest €600 million over five years into developing renewable energy generation assets. The private equity firm recently acquired Gamesa Solar, a major solarenergy company in Spain, for €261 million as well as Italian PV powerplant specialist Ener3.
California-based OptiSolar has contributed to the state’s aim of sourcing 20% of its power from renewable sources with the planned establishment of a solar power farm in San Luis Obispo County. Located on the northwest of theClarissa Plains, the 550MW PV farm’s location...
Despite recent disruptions at its Pasadena manufacturing plant that reduced revenues for the first quarter of 2008 by approximately 10 percent, MEMC said in a conference call with financial analysts that its target of reaching 8,000MT of polysilicon production in 2008 was on target.
The National Research Council of Canada (NRC), among other governmental bodies, has selected two nanotech-related research projects specifically targeting improvements in photovoltaics that are designed to speed up the technology development for commercialization.
Starting in the first quarter of 2010, Trina Solar will source polysilicon from Italian start-up SILFAB S.p.A to produce approximately 225MW of solar modules in aggregate over six years, the company said.
eSolar has announced that it has closed $130 million in funding from Google.org, Idealab and Oak Investment Partners, among others. The thermal power plant manufacturer aims to begin construction and deployment of pre-fabricated power plants that achieve economies of scale at 33MW.
