The European Commission has awarded Sovello AG €15.5 million of regional investment aid to help build its latest String Ribbon solar-module production facility in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Germany. When completed, the entire project will have received investment totalling €147 million and created 320 jobs in the region.
A new report by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research entitled, U.S. Solar Energy Trade Assessment 2010, found that the U.S. not only has a strong solar industry, but is a leader in the net exportation of solar energy products. In 2009, US$723 million worth of net exports came from the U.S. alone.
The 37th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC) will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2011 and has opened its call for papers to be presented at the June 19th through June 24th conference in Seattle, Washington. Authors who wish to submit their papers should provide a technical abstract by the February 21, 2011 deadline. Details on the abstract submission process can be found here.
IDC Energy Insights has launched three new global-research projects focused on quantifying and tracking the rapidly-growing Smart Meter, Photovoltaic Module, and Solar Inverter markets. To help man the new programmes, five analysts will be joining IDC's Worldwide Tracker team, which will be managed by Ryan Reith.
SunPower sees substantial growth in store in fiscal year 2011, with annual revenues expected to range between $2.65 billion and $2.85 billion as well as PV cell production of 900-945MW at its three fabrication facilities. The company’s already issued its 2010 guidance, which forecasts revenues of $2.15 billion-$2.25 billion and cell production of 570-580MW. The company also said it has signed a deal to sell the Solare Roma PV power plant in Italy.
Lux Research has released a new report, “Module Cost Structure Breakdown: Can Thin-Film Survive the Crystalline Silicon Onslaught?”, which compares multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) with thin-film silicon (TF-Si), cadmium telluride (CdTe) and copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) on a US$/W basis in order to see which of the technologies will have a long-term cost advantage on the module level.
Etrion has released its interim consolidated financial statements and related management discussion and analysis for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2010 and 2009. Highlights for the third quarter include closing the acquisition of the 24MW first tranche of the 33MW Montalto solar park in Italy - subsequently closing the final 9MW tranche - recording US$7.0 million in revenues and completing a US$15 million private placement of shares to meet Toronto Stock Exchange listing requirements.
