Solar Cells Info

Valletta, Malta, July 30, 2007
Source: EarthTimes.org
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/88375.html

The Palazzo Falson Museum has installed a solar array on its roof, making it the first solar technology in Malta.The multipurpose solar roof was jointly financed by the Bank of Valletta and HSBC Cares for Malta’s Heritage Fund, MaltaMedia reported. The recent refurbishment to the Palazzo Falson included an Alwitra Solar Roofing Membrane. The installation is the first Building-Integrated Photovoltaic-System in Malta and was installed by a group of British, German and Maltese experts in the field who trained a local Maltese network of installers during the project. (more…)

July 24, 2007
Source: InsideGreentech.com
http://insidegreentech.com/1514/new-108m-uni-solar-contract-win

United Solar Ovonic, a subsidiary of Energy Conversion Devices (NASDAQ: ENER), announced a new three-year $108 million distribution agreement today. Advanced Green Technologies is offering building integrated photovoltaic solutions for commercial and residential roofing applications using UNI-SOLAR® products.
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By  Suhas Sreedhar /16 July 2007
Source. spectrum.ieee.org
http://spectrum.ieee.org/jul07/5370
Technique combines different photovoltaic materials to increase efficiency

Scientists in Korea and California have invented a new way of boosting the efficiency of cheap plastic solar cells, making them more competitive with traditional silicon solar cells. The key is to make the solar cells in pairs. The tandem cells, as they are called, consist of two layers of different types of light-absorbing, electron-emitting plastics, and the combination converts a broader spectrum of light into energy than either could do alone.
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By Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor.Electronic News, July 26, 2007
Source: EDN.com
http://www.edn.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA6463348

Pfäffikon, Switzerland-based thin film production equipment supplier Oerlikon Solar reported today it has signed a contract with Taiwan-based CMC Magnetics Corp. (CMC) for the supply of a 40-MW peak (MWp) thin-film solar cell production plant.  Last week, news reports stated that CMC, Taiwan’s top compact disk maker, plans to set up a new firm to make solar cells and will likely list the unit in 2009, as it seeks to tap growing demand for alternative energy sources. The first components from the plant are to be shipped to CMC this year with production planned for mid-2008.
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Private equity drying up for thin film solar cell startups, says The Information Network
TIN – July 17, 2007
Source: Tekrati.com
http://www.tekrati.com/research/News.asp?id=9116

A severe shortage of polysilicon used for solar cell production led to a stampede of startups trying to enter the market using thin film technology, according to a market study by The Information Network examining opportunities in the solar cell market for thin film technology.  “We’ve literally had a hundred individuals purchasing our report to use as part of a business plan to enter the market,” said Dr. Robert Castellano, founder and president of The Information Network. “Nearly everyone asked about starting a 20MW production plant for $40 million in equipment, and the vast majority wanted to start a CIGS line.”

Private equity money is drying up, according to the report, for a number of reasons. The much ballyhooed startup Nanosolar is notable for grabbing $120 million to use CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium Diselenide) technology. However, the company was started in 2002 and production is scheduled for late 2007 at a former Cisco manufacturing facility in San Jose, California. That translates to a development time of more than 5 years.
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Thin Film’s Time in the Sun : First Solar’s thin-film technology is now challenging silicon panels at large-scale solar-power facilities.
By Peter Fairley, July 27, 2007
Source: Technologyreview.com
http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/19095/

The low manufacturing cost of photovoltaics that employ thin films of cadmium-telluride semiconductor have long been seen as having the potential for lifting solar power from its niche status as a very expensive power source, delivering less than a twentieth of 1 percent of U.S. electricity.  Now, after two decades in which cadmium-telluride technology was dogged by low power output and reliability problems, it’s suddenly elbowing its way into renewable-energy markets and competing with today’s dominant solar technology: silicon solar panels. The company behind this technology turnaround is Phoenix-based First Solar, which says that the technology could eventually be cost competitive with conventional fossil-fuel sources of electricity.
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Jimmy Hsu, Taipei; Adam Hwang,
Source: DIGITIMES, 20 July 2007
http://www.digitimes.com/bits_chips/a20070719PD213.html

CMC Magnetics, the largest maker of optical discs in Taiwan, will establish a subsidiary, Sun Well Technology, to produce thin film solar cell modules, according to a decision made by the company’s board of directors at a meeting on July 19.  Sun Well will have registered capital of NT$1.5 billion (US$45.7 million), with the planned initial paid-in capital of NT$700 million to be solely invested by CMC, according to CMC vice president and spokesperson Andrea Wong.
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Nuying Huang, Taipei; Esther Lam
Source: DIGITIMES, 9 August 2007
http://www.digitimes.com/bits_chips/a20070808PD220.html

Motech Industries announced on August 8 that it has established a research and development (R&D) center with the aim to study developments in photovoltaic (PV) technologies, quality enhancement on solar cell power efficiency and silicon wafer production. The new R&D center is located at the Southern Taiwan Science Park and it will recruit more than 40 researchers within three years, up from 20 at present. (more…)

Glen Allen, Virginia / August 6, 2007
Source: Nanomarkets.net
http://www.nanomarkets.net/news/pr_detail.cfm?PRID=215

The world thin-film photovoltaics (TFPV) market is forecast to reach $7.2 billion by 2015, compared to just over $1.0 billion today, according to a new report that is being released this week by NanoMarkets LC, an industry analyst firm based here. Additional details are available on the firm’s website at www.nanomarkets.net. Accredited press may request an Executive
Summary of the report. (more…)

Frankfurt (Oder), Germany, July 9, 2007
Source: First Solar Inc. press release
http://www.firstsolar.com/story?id=219

First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq:FSLR) announced that the Company’s new solar module manufacturing plant in Frankfurt
(Oder) is to be formally inaugurated by Germany’s environment minister Sigmar Gabriel and Bruce Sohn, President of First Solar.  “As the world’s largest solar power market, Germany is the ideal location for our production facility. The First Solar location in Frankfurt (Oder) is testament to the successful environmental and economic policies in Germany. The favorable investment climate was made possible by the consistent promotion of environmentally friendly energies through the renewable energy act (EEG),” explained Bruce Sohn, President of First Solar.
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