Intertek’s Lake Forest, California laboratory has been designated as a certified body testing laboratory for IEC 62108 with the company receiving accreditation by the IECEE to issue IEC Certification Body (CB) reports for CPV modules to IEC the standard. The certification enables Intertek to provide CPV manufacturers with a CB certification and test reports, which, it notes, can be used to obtain global certifications with IECEE member countries and participating certification bodies on top of receiving North American certification.
SPI Solar, US-based EPC services provider, has announced its third Greek venture, having acquired the necessary paperwork. Working alongside local partners SDL Solar and Global Energy Services, the installation is expected to be a 1MW fixed-ground-mount solar facility, located in Rhodope Prefecture, north-eastern Greece. The electricity will be purchased by Greek Public Power Corporation through a 20-year PPA.
The Bankruptcy Court overseeing Solyndra's insolvency has assigned Jones Lang LaSalle to undertake the sale of its manufacturing plant in Fremont, California. The 450,000-square-foot manufacturing facility was said to be designed to exceed California seismic standards and can be operating immediately following a seismic event, though not at the levels created by the current solar industry shakeout.
Exelon and First Solar have extended their deadline for initial funding of the DOE loan for the 230MW Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One (AVSR) project, in northern Los Angeles County, California. A revised construction permit has been approved but the delay could have meant First Solar repurchase the project from customer, Exelon today, February 24, 2012 as federal loan and loan guarantee would not be released in time of contract clauses kicking-in.
Ceres Technologies advised that it had bought technology and product assets from the CIGS system business that was operated by Veeco Instruments. The CIGS product line is expected to add to Ceres’ products and services for the renewable energy sector with production-ready CIGS deposition tool sets, including machines for Molybdenum back contact, CIGS absorber layer and transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layers.
Apple has announced in its Facilities Report it is to construct the largest end user owned, onsite solar array in the US. The rumours surrounding the technology company’s renewable energy goals have been put to bed. The 20MW facility, in Maiden, North Carolina, will be installed on 100 acres of land, supplying 42 million kWh of renewable energy annually. Apple will also be building a fuel cell installation, powered by 100% biogas to provide more than 40 million kWh of baseload renewable energy annually.
Solar Frontier provided 10MW of its CIS thin-film solar modules to power the Mt. Komekura Solar Power Plant in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, which started operations on January 27. Shigeaki Kameda, president of Solar Frontier, was in attendance for the plant’s opening celebration.
MBJ Solutions has completed installation of its electroluminescence inspection systems into the production lines of Centrosolar Sonnenstromfabrik. The new equipment inspects 100% of Centrosolar’s module production to ensure any anomalies, not visible to the naked eye, will be detected.
Singulus Technologies has advised that it has received a new order for a processing machine used in the production of CIGS/CIS thin-film solar cells. The order came from an undisclosed international thin-film solar manufacturer and will be used for the set-up of a pilot production of CIGS/CIS modules. Singulus noted that upon successful commissioning by the thin-film solar manufacturer, the company plans to expand its module production, hence the order placed with Singulus. Further details, including a delivery date, were not available.
The CPV solar cell business segment of Emcore accounted for US$19.1 million or 51% of the company's total revenue in its FY2012 first quarter, representing a decline of US$2 million from the prior quarter. However, Emcore reported a CPV cell order backlog of approximately US$51.7 million, an increase from US$43.5 million in the prior quarter. The order increase was due to the first order from its China-based JV CPV module operations, Suncore, which is starting assembly operations to meet a US$100 million project contract in the country.
