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.
Centrotherm photovoltaics said it is buying Michael Glatt Maschinenbau, a 74-year-old Bavarian manufacturer of industrial pressure containers and apparatus, from previous owner Büechl Handels-und Beteiligungs for a purchase price said to be in the single-digit millions of euro.
Nabeel Gareeb, President and Chief Executive Officer of MEMC resigned his executive position and seat on the Board of the major polysilicon supplier to the semiconductor and photovoltaics industries. Gareeb will assist in a transition through the end of 2008, while Board member Marshall Turner will serve as interim CEO, effective November 12, 2008. The search for a permanent replacement for Gareeb will be conducted during this period.
In the wake of Hurricane Ike, MEMC Electronic Materials has experienced some production slowdowns largely caused by delays in raw materials deliveries from suppliers to the company's Pasadena, TX, polysilicon plant. As a result, the company has updated its financial outlook and lowered its third-quarter revenue targets from a previous guidance range of $560 million-$620 million to $520 million-$540 million.
The city ofSanta Barbara, CA, has selected EI Solutions andTiogaEnergy to design, build, and fund a 384-KW DC (331-KW AC) solarelectric system, which will be located on available rooftop space on acity corporation yard in the historic downtown area.
Entegris has established a wholly-owned subsidiary in Bangalore, India to provide support of the company’s product portfolio for the photovoltaics and microelectronics industries. Entitled Entegris Materials Integrity India Pvt. Ltd., the division will be led by Badarish Appanna, and will incorporate support for activities such as wafer and mask handling and shipping, subsystem and fluid handling products and finished electric products.
Product Briefing Outline: SAFC Hitech has introduced the ‘EpiVapor’, a metalorganic vapor phase distribution system for compound semiconductor manufacturing. EpiVapor is designed to eliminate the need for localized tool bubblers and TCUs by delivering vapors from highly volatile and sensitive pyrophoric liquids directly to MOCVD systems.
AOS Solar, a thin film silicon-on-glass start-up of2005, claims that it is aiming to achieve a 90 percent reduction in theamount of silicon its technology requires with a 50 percent energybudget reduction and a reduction in capital equipment costs of 50percent. This combination of crystalline silicon (c-Si) PV efficiencywith thin film manufacturing economics will be presented for the firsttime at the www.ibfconferences.com nanotechnology investment forum in Palm Springs, February 6.
