Solar Cells Info

source: Photonics.com
http://www.photonics.com/content/news/2007/March/8/86858.aspx

GOLDEN, Colo., March 8, 2007 — Two scientists at the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) who pioneered the multijunction solar cell have been named Dan David Prize laureates for 2007. Jerry Olson and Sarah Kurtz received their award and two-thirds of the $1 million prize in a ceremony today in Paris.   Olson and Kurtz share the Dan David Prize, endowed by the Dan David Foundation and located at Tel Aviv University in Israel, with NASA climate scientist James Hansen. Olson and Kurtz were selected for their “exceptional and profound contributions to the field of photovoltaic energy,” the prize committee said. Solar cells based on the scientists’ work “have the potential to alleviate the world’s impending energy crisis,” according to the committee.
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By JACOB GREBER, Bloomberg News, March 20, 2007
source: The New York Sun
http://www.nysun.com/article/50810

ZURICH, Switzerland — Bertrand Piccard, who along with his co-pilot became the first to fly around the world in a hot-air balloon, won financial support from Germany’s biggest bank to build a solar-powered aircraft that can fly around the globe. The aircraft, with a wing span of 264 feet, will be able to take off and fly using energy from the sun. Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executiv e Officer Joseph Ackermann said his bank will contribute $12 million of the project’s estimated $82.5 million cost.
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source: Myiris.com
http://www.myiris.com/newsCentre/newsPopup.php?fileR=20070322081532121

Tata Power, subsidiary Tata BP Solar India, provider of solar power systems, announced an USD 100 million expansion plan, to be implemented over 18 months, reports Mint. The investment aims at, doubling the manufacturing capacity of solar photovoltaic cells at its Bangalore plant. Tata BP Solar India, a 51:49 JV between BP Solar and Tata Power, (Q, N,C,F)* commenced its commercial operations in 1991. The joint venture has invested USD 25 million in India.
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source: Solar EnerTech Corp. press release /March 21, 2007
http://www.solarenertech.com/news/release.asp?numb=222

Solar EnerTech Corp. (OTCBB: SOEN) (the “Company”) is pleased to announce the final closing of its private placement with institutional investors in the amount of $9.0 million on March 19, 2007, bringing the total principal amount of Convertible Notes sold in its private placement offering to $17.3 million. Knight Capital Markets, LLC, a NASD member firm, acted as sole placement agent in connection with this offering.
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Nuying Huang, Taipei; Rodney Chan, DigiTimes.com /21 March 2007
http://www.digitimes.com/bits_chips/a20070321PD208.html

China-based Suntech Power has become the world’s third largest solar cell supplier following Japan-based Sharp and Germany-based Q-Cells, according a Suntech executive. Suntech’s solar cell shipments totaled 150MW in 2006, and total output for 2007 is expected at 270-280MW, Steven Chan, vice president of business development at Suntech, said during a Merrill Lynch seminar.
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March 14, 2007
Source: Ascent Solar /press release
http://www.ascentsolar.com/view.php?tg=press&id=19
Hydro has entered into an agreement to invest USD 9.2 million in the American solar energy company Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., which has developed a super thin and flexible solar cell technology. The investment gives Hydro a 23 per cent ownership interest in Ascent Solar. “Ascent Solar’s flexible thin film is very exciting. Not only due to the low weight that makes the solar cells easy to transport, install and maintain, but also because flexible solar cells have a large number of potential applications in the future”, says Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup, who heads the market activities in Hydro’s Oil & Energy business area.
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By Pam Radtke Russell / March 11, 2007
source: nola.com
http://www.nola.com/business/t-p/index.ssf?/base/money-1/117359952326600.xml&coll=1

For some people living in the Lower 9th Ward, sustainable building and renewable power are more than just utopian concepts. Nine homes and the Neighborhood Empowerment Network Association office in the Lower 9th took a big step toward becoming self-sufficient last month. They were fitted with donated solar systems that are capable of producing 20 percent to 30 percent of their electricity.

If homes in the neighborhood had been equipped with solar power before Hurricane Katrina, the community wouldn’t have had to wait so long for power to be restored, said Patricia Jones, director of the NENA, a recovery center in the Lower 9th Ward.
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By THOMAS CONTENT /March 5, 2007
Source: Journal Sentinel Online
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=573302

Every time the sun shines, Steve Schutz sees the plants in his greenhouse and the refund checks on his utility bill grow.  With 256 solar panels covering its roof, the Urban Ecology Center recently unveiled the largest solar installation system in Wisconsin. The panels generate 44 kilowatts of power.  His New Berlin business, Sunnyslope Gardens, has long relied on the sun, but now it’s powered by it as well. “Being in the greenhouse business, I use solar energy every day with my green plants and producing my crop,” Schutz said. “But I wanted to take it one step further.”
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Source: Construction and Maintenance News
http://home.nestor.minsk.by/build/news/2007/03/1513.html

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District, SMUD, and Lennar Homes have signed an agreement that represents the largest solar new homes partnership in the United States. The agreement will bring more than 1,200 high-efficient solar homes to the area. Solar photovoltaic systems will be built into 1,254 new homes in 11 communities in the SMUD service territory. The first 506 homes will be constructed in the new Anatolia subdivision of Rancho Cordova and 79 new homes will be built in the Village Greens community of Natomas. Groundbreaking is planned for March.
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Roxana Orellana /The Salt Lake Tribune, March 12, 2007
Source. The Salt Lake Tribune
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5415859

KEARNS – Energy generated since January at Entheos Academy is enough to power nine homes for a day or operate a television for more than 3,000 hours.  That’s thanks to the recent installation of 12 solar panels in the roof of the first-year charter school at 4710 W. 6200 South. “We want to get students thinking about [renewable energy] and get them excited,” said Brian Smith, manager of Renewable Synergy LLC, which designed and installed the panels.  Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky renewable energy program awarded $37,500 to pay for the project after approving Smith’s funding request.
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