Arthur Rudin and Robert Muhn have joined SoloPower as the new VP of product development and general manager of sales, respectively. Combined the two solar veterans bring 60 years of experience in the solar industry to the company.
SunPower Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on empowering, inspiring and motivating a new generation of solar leaders in communities around the world has now been launched. This is the first organization of its kind to be solely funded by a major solar company.
Solar cell researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia, claim the highest efficiency for solar power ever recorded, announcing a new world record of 43% of sunlight converted into electricity at the research stage.
Independently tested by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE), Suntech’s ‘Pluto’ cell technology has been used in multi-crystalline silicon PV modules to set a new world record in this classification of 15.6% conversion efficiency. The previous record (15.5%) had been set 15 years ago by Sandia National Labs. Suntech’s Pluto cells have a conversion efficiency exceeding 17%. The company also noted that the new world record was set using the framed area, without which Suntech believes it would achieve a conversion efficiency of well over 16%.
XeroCoat has chosen Air Liquide Electronics U.S. to supply the precision chemical delivery systems for XeroCoat’s turnkey antireflective coating platform for glassmakers and end-users in the solar manufacturing industry.
Australian company, Dyesol has commenced operations in its North American subsidiary, Dyesol Inc. The company moves into the US market under the guidance of chief executive officer Marc Thomas who has been appointed for several months.
Solar Power Inc. has signed an exclusive deal to sell its crystalline-silicon solar PV modules to Australian solar developer, Beyond Building Systems. The two-year supply agreement, which calls for a minimum purchase of 5.7 MW of modules, provides BBS with exclusive access to SPI's 170-220-W panels for use throughout Australia, according to SPI.
U.S.-headquartered Worldwide Energy and Manufacturing USA, Inc., via its Shanghai-based wholly-owned subsidiary Shanghai Intech Electro-Mechanical Products Co., Ltd., has announced that it has dispatched its first PV module shipment in the U.S. The company has also received UL certification for its solar module products, which was required in order for the company to sell modules in the U.S. market.
Silex Systems has conditionally acquired the manufacturing assets and equipment of the Sydney Olympic Park (SOP) solar photovoltaic production facility from BP Solar, which operated the Australian fab until March. Silex has also signed a conditional lease for the building which houses the SOP plant, so once the transactions are completed, the manufacturing facility--including infrastructure and services--will be secured relatively intact, according to the company. Both transactions are expected to be completed before the end of June.
Suntech Power Holdings CTO, Dr. Stuart Wenham has received NewSouth Innovations (NSi) Inventor of the Year Award. NSi is the technology commercialization company of the University of NSW, Australia (UNSW). Dr. Wenham holds a dual position as the Director of the UNSW's ARC Photovoltaic Centre of Excellence as well as his position at Suntech. Dr. Zhengrong Shi, Suntech's Chairman and CEO was a former senior research scientist at the Centre of Excellence.
