Former managing board member Scott Landstrom has been selected by the Direct Grid Technologies board as the company’s new CEO. Guy Ward, the previous Direct Grid CEO, will take on the role of executive chairman. A 25-year veteran of senior executive leadership, Landstrom previously worked at Lam Research as the VP of global field operations with prior executive experience coming from his time as president of Volex.
Kyocera Solar’s new MyGen US-made solar kits are now available for residential and light-commercial solar energy installations being developed by new and veteran solar professionals alike. The domestically produced pre-engineered kits include modules, inverters, racking, monitoring, grounding, manual, drawings and all the marginal components needed to complete a solar installation.
In reporting first quarter financial results, metals specialist Timminco, noted that it had rebranded its solar grade silicon operations as ‘Timminco Solar’ and was executing a strategic marketing effort to communicate to PV manufacturers its ‘value proposition’ for the product. Timminco management said that the firm had shipped 135MT of solar grade silicon from inventory in the first four months of the year with 63MT alone shipped in April, 2011.
In an attempt to close the gap between design and manufacturing new PV inverter technology, SMA Solar Technology is acquiring dtw Sp.z o.o., one of Poland's largest electromagnetic components manufacturers. SMA said that dtw had been a supplier to the inverter firm for 10 years. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, though dtw was said to have annual revenue of €74 million. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and scheduled to be completed in July 2011.
The U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) in Kekaha, Hawaii is employing stainless steel racking and PV inverters, due to the tropical marine environment on the island that generates sea-salt moisture. Advanced Energy developed a stainless steel PV inverter range that is being used for the 787-kilowatt project. Maui Solar is developing the projects.
Several large sapphire furnace orders have helped GT Solar to almost double its equipment order backlog guidance from approximately US$1 billion to US$1.6 billion. However, technical upgrades offered to existing customers of DSS650 furnaces are tracking ahead of schedule, enabling GT Solar to raise revenue guidance for the current quarter to approximately, US$225 million, up from previous guidance of between US$140 million - US$150 million.
The US Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado “switched-on” its new 6MW solar PV power system built by Colorado Springs Utilities and SunPower. Funded in part by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the plant uses SunPower solar panels and the company’s T0 Tracker system.
SPI Solar and LDK Solar, its majority shareholder, have signed an agreement to become the primary engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and operations and maintenance (O&M) service provider for KDC Solar’s project pipeline in New Jersey and New York. The three-year contract will see the two firms collaborate on a number of projects, which could be as little as 150MW or as much as 300MW.
The Tata Steel and Dyesol development partnership has produced the world’s largest dye-sensitized photovoltaic module. Manufactured at Tata Steel’s Shotton site in North Wales, the module is over three metres in length and approximately one square metre in area. This unique achievement represents an important step towards the development of large-scale microgeneration capability within building infrastructure.
According to the United News of Bangladesh, top executives at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have agreed to help finance a 500MW solar system, which will be built at locations throughout Bangladesh. The plan has officials proposing the 500MW solar system include solar irrigation pumps, solar rooftop installations in urban areas and mini solar grid plants in rural areas.
