Increasing panel efficiencies and power ratings represents a key deliverable from the PV industry today. These requirements are not simply long-term objectives for the industry as a whole: they are essential at the company level to differentiate leading suppliers within an overcrowded and highly competitive manufacturing environment.
Efficiency enhancements typically require changes in manufacturing process flow and materials (raw and consumable) used in production. Ideally, the technologies that drive these changes will be those featured within a technology roadmap.
BlueChip Energy has announced that the Commission of the City of Eustis, Lake County, US, authorized the mayor to execute a commercial lease with the company for 300 acres of land to be developed into a 60MW solar farm. The property, owned by the city, was use for as a wastewater spray field and is no longer needed.
Chevron Energy Solutions has completed the installation of a 1.15MW PV system at Dinuba’s wastewater treatment plant. The ground-mounted array, which sits atop a capped landfill adjacent to the plant, is made up of 4,704 modules and is expected to help cut the city’s electrical utility consumption by 70%.
Tentative rumours about technology company Apple’s investment in solar power have been partially confirmed. The Guardian said today that a spokeswoman for Apple would only verify that the company was preparing the ground next to its data centre in California, but not whether it has any intention to leave coal behind and turn to solar power.
Campbell Soup Company is leasing 14 acres of its facility in Sacramento, US, to American Capital Energy (ACE). A Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and Land Lease Agreement (LLA) will allow ACE to construct a 2.3MW capacity PV solar power generation ground mount tracker system on the grounds. ACE will own the system and be responsible for its construction, operation and maintenance.
Euro Projects has chosen Emerson as inverter supplier for its two recently-completed installations in Sardinia, Italy. The combined capacity of the two systems, located adjacent to one another in the municipality of Villaperuccio, is 10MW and Emerson will equip both sites with its utility-scale power inverters and management systems.
As part of its strategy to supply a complete materials offering to the PV industry, Dow Corning has brought online a new 4,000MT per annum monosilane gas facility, adjacent to Hemlock Semiconductor’s polysilicon manufacturing plant in Hemlock, Michigan.
Company name changes can often be as part of a rebranding exercise, sometimes due to poor performance or turmoil. This is certainly not the case with GT Solar, which is outperforming much of its competitor base in the PV equipment market sector. Having secured approximately US$1 billion in order backlog for its new foray into the LED sapphire wafer manufacturing market and hints by executives of further acquisitions, a new name, GT Advanced Technologies was seen as better reflection of what the company is now doing and where it intends to play in the future.
One of the largest solar PV power plants in North America will be expanded, nearly quadrupling its generating capacity in a few years. Pacific Gas and Electric and Sempra Generation have signed a 25-year contract for a 150MW (AC) expansion of Sempra Generation’s Copper Mountain Solar complex in Boulder City, NV. First Solar will provide millions of ground-mounted thin-film CdTe panels and serve as the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor for the 1100-acre project.
As leading CIGS manufacturers and equipment suppliers in Europe prepare for quarterly and half-year reporting during August, the impact of Veeco’s parting comments may force a closer examination of existing market-share adoption rates and business-unit operating margins. The company’s rationale for exiting the CIGS systems business was based on its assessment that “the timeframe and cost to commercialization [of CIGS tooling] are not acceptable,” coupled with “the lower-than-expected end-market acceptance for CIGS technology.” Rather than speculating whether Veeco’s prepared remarks will—or will not—have any tangible effect on investor confidence levels across the CIGS community as a whole, it is perhaps more prudent to revisit the fortunes of other PV equipment suppliers that have been championing CIGS in support of dedicated product portfolios offered to the market.
