Applied Energy Technologies (AET) is further developing its solar-mounting solutions production with the opening of its new 43,100 square foot manufacturing and warehouse facility in Maumee, Ohio. The new facility includes a 41,600 square foot manufacturing and warehouse space, along with 1,500 square feet of office space and triples AET’s US production capacity.
With the home content rules for PV installations in place in Ontario, Canada a growing number of suppliers have been forced to manufacture products in the region for customers to obtain the feed-in tariffs. Although not mentioning its manufacturing partner, Conergy is the latest module manufacturer to establish production in Ontario
Ion implant market leader Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates will be acquired by Applied Materials for approximately US$4.9 billion. The deal is said to enhance Applied’s product offerings for transistor formation for front-end semiconductor processing as IC process complexity, transistor scaling and 3-D design implementation require complete and integrated product and process offerings. The deal also offers Applied new market opportunities in solar, display and light emitting diodes, where Varian has made significant investments in recent years to broaden implant technologies market opportunities. Varian reported last week second-quarter 2011 revenue of US$330 million.
Jun Xu and his team of researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory have created a 3-D nanocone-based solar cell, which is said to enhance the light-to-power conversion efficiency by almost 80%. The solar cell is constructed using n-type nanocones made from zinc oxide, which perform as the junction framework and electron conductor , and are enveloped by a p-type semiconductor consisting of polycrystalline cadmium telluride, which act as the principal photon absorber channel and hole conductor.
Solar investments were hot in the first quarter, even if overall PV market demand cooled considerably; according to the latest quarter report on US venture capital (VC) investment in cleantech companies from Ernst & Young. Solar-based companies received US$362.7 million in new investments in the first quarter of 2011, up 162% compared to the same period a year ago. This accounted for 39% of the total dollars raised for the quarter, which is compiled from data provided by Dow Jones VentureSource.
Konarka Technologies is strengthening its management team with the appointment of Dr. James Buntaine as its executive vice president and chief technology officer. The new position adds weight behind the recent appointment of Kenneth McCauley as vice president of sales and marketing to transition the company into its commercial ramp phase. Dr Buntaine comes from Eastman Kodak after a 30-year career at the firm.
Energy firm, Constellation Energy is to acquire ground-mounted PV power plants at multiple sites being built by Belectric in Sacramento, California. The projects, which are expected to be commercially operational by the end of 2011, will use 81,000 First Solar CdTe thin-film modules, totals 30MW (DC) of solar generation. Financial terms were not disclosed.
A new production line for SolarEdge Technologies photovoltaic inverters opened earlier this month at the Flextronics facility in Newmarket, Ontario. Systems manufactured at the plant will meet the domestic content requirements of the Canadian province's feed-in tariff programs and will also be exported to other customers in North America.
The Californian City of Coachella is now home to a 420kW concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) system, which will provide solar energy to the Coachella Water Reclamation Plant. Developed by Johnson Controls and Solar Power Partners (SPP) using 55 SolFocus SF-1100S tracking CPV systems, the project is now connected to the regional electrical grid, serviced by the Imperial Irrigation District (IID).
Having originally announced plans to produce EVA encapsulants in China that would come on stream by June 2011, Solutia has said that its new manufacturing facility in Suzhou was ready to supply commercial-grade Vistasolar EVA encapsulant. This is Solutia's first new EVA production facility to be developed after the acquisition of Etimex Solar GmbH of Germany.
