The most challenging economic conditions in recent memory have taken their toll on a leading semiconductor/solar trade association--the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International. SEMI North America President Jonathan Davis told PV Tech/Fabtech in an exclusive interview earlier this week that because of what he called a "fairly severe decline in revenues," the organization has taken a "number of cost reduction measures, including layoffs."
The North Face, a supplier of outdoor apparel, equipment and footwear, announced its completion of a 1MW solar electricity system at its West Coast distribution center in Visalia, California. The new system will power between 25 and 30 percent of the facility’s energy needs. It was designed, engineered and installed by Suntech Energy Solutions, while financed, owned and operated by Recurrent Energy. 100 percent of the electricity will be sold to The North Face under a power purchase agreement from Recurrent Energy.
Sempra Generation has selected First Solar to provide a 10MW turnkey thin-film PV energy plant near Boulder City, Nevada. The project started in July and is expected to be completed by the end of 2008. The modules to be used at this ground-mount project will come from First Solar’s manufacturing facility in Perrysburg, Ohio, the company said.
Spire Corporation has said that it has won a competitive bid to supply turnkey equipment for a combined solar module and solar cell facility from Jiangxi Gemei Sci-Tech LTD, based in Jiangxi, a southern province in China. The contract includes a 25MW multi-crystalline solar cell factory and an adjacent 25MW module facility.
