Solar Cells Info

By Matt Nauman, Mercury News, Nov 14, 2007
Source: MercuryNews.com
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_7462532?nclick_check=1

Low-income homeowners in California might soon have access to a $108 million fund to put solar panels on their roofs, but an advocacy group for the poor questions the effectiveness of a program that doesn’t pay for all the cost of the installations. The issue comes up for a vote at the Friday meeting of the state’s Public Utilities Commission in San Francisco.  The program, part of California’s Solar Initiative, will provide full subsidies for one kilowatt solar-energy systems to single-family, owner-occupied households that qualify as “extremely” or “very low income” – those making up to 50 percent of an area’s median income. A PUC spokeswoman said this could range from $25,750 for a four-person household in Fresno County to $56,550 for the same size household in San Francisco County.
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New Orleans, LA – December 11, 2007
Source: GE Energy / press release
http://www.gepower.com/about/press/en/2007_press/121107a.htm

GE Energy will provide 200-watt solar modules to IBERDROLA INGENIERÍA Y CONSTRUCCIÓN, one of Spain’s largest energy engineering companies, for projects that will add 11.6 megawatts of solar capacity for the country’s electricity grid by the end of the year. As the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor, IBERDROLA INGENIERÍA Y CONSTRUCCIÓN plans to install the GE modules in ground-mounted arrays for several projects around the Extremadura Autonomous community of western Spain. IBERDROLA INGENIERÍA Y CONSTRUCCIÓN also utilized the services of the Spanish Energy and Environmental Research Center (CIEMAT), which conducted tests on the panels.
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Atlanta, GA. – November 28, 2007
Source: GE Energy.com / press release
http://www.gepower.com/about/press/en/2007_press/112807a.htm

GE Energy has supplied 363 roof-mounted solar panels at the top of 45 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City that will help generate electricity for the first solar powered Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. The Christmas tree is decorated with 30,000 new energy-efficient LED lights, on five miles of wire, which will help illuminate Rockefeller Center with a cleaner source of holiday power.
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Dayville, Conn., Dec. 11. 2007
Source; CNN Money.com /PRNewswire
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/NYTU06711122007-1.htm

United Natural Foods, Inc. along with Solar Works, Inc., the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund and several Connecticut politicians, are scheduled to dedicate the installation of the largest solar electric system in New England on December 13, 2007. The 550-kilowatt STC solar photovoltaic system, installed at UNFI’s natural foods distribution facility in Dayville, Conn., is expected to generate approximately 600,000 kilowatt hours of clean energy annually, enough to power more than 67 average New England homes for one year. The system output will avoid over 14 million pounds (over 6,350 metric tons) of carbon dioxide over the 25-year life of the system. (more…)

Charles Burress, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer /December 11, 2007
Source: SFGate,com
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/11/BABGTRMNM.DTL

Companies and homeowners who pay to install solar panels in San Francisco could save over 50 percent with help from an ambitious subsidy program, according to city officials who will announce the plan Tuesday. Some experts say the effort is groundbreaking and, if implemented, could be the nation’s biggest such program. The proposed subsidy would be $3,000 and $5,000 per residence and up to $10,000 for businesses. City officials are also proposing a low-interest financing program that would allow residents to incrementally pay back money borrowed for solar installations at below-market rates, possibly via charges on their property tax bills. (more…)

Merrimack, New Hampshire, 28 November 2007
Source: RenewableEnergyAccess.com

GT Solar has announced the signing of a $56 million contract with Yingli Green for the next generation of silicon ingot furnaces — the DSS450 from GT Solar.  This is Yingli’s fourth and largest order of GT Solar’s DSS furnaces that grow multi-crystalline ingots up to 450kg, and the purchase is expected to bring Yingli’s installed furnace capacity up to approximately 600 megawatts (MW) in 2009. (more…)

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 5 Dec 2007
Source: RenewableEnergyAccess.com
http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=50754

In recent years China has become a major force in the manufacturing of solar industry products. Currently there are more than 400 photovoltaic (PV) solar companies operating in China. This includes eight companies being publicly traded in the United States that are engaged in the polycrystalline silicon segment of the PV industry.
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Service Optimizes Energy Generation, Reduces Maintenance Costs for Large-Scale Solar Electric Systems
San Jose, CA., November 13, 2007
Source: Fat Spaniel Technologies, Inc, press release
http://www.fatspaniel.com/news/press-String-20071113.html

Fat Spaniel Technologies, the market leader in providing monitoring and reporting services for distributed renewable energy systems, today announced its new String Monitoring Service. The service is designed to enable solar electric Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) service providers, system installers, and system operators to better manage and maximize commercial-scale solar electric energy generation.
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The service is designed to pinpoint problems with failed strings of modules or failed individual solar modules.
November 13, 2007
Source: CleanTechnologies.com
http://media.cleantech.com/2078/fat-spaniel-starts-new-solar-monitoring-service

San Jose, Calif.-based Fat Spaniel Technologies announced a new monitoring service today to help companies keep a better eye on on solar modules.  Fat Spaniel, which provides critical information services for distributed, renewable energy systems, said its new String Monitoring Service is designed to quickly pinpoint and resolve problems with failed strings of modules or failed individual solar modules.
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Monitoring Services Manage Remote Battery-Based Photovoltaic Installation
San Jose, CA,  December 4, 2007
Source: Fat Spaniel Technologies Inc press release
http://www.fatspaniel.com/news/press-OutBack-20071204.html

Fat Spaniel Technologies, Inc., the market leader in providing monitoring and reporting services for distributed renewable energy systems, today announced a service for managing solar inverter and battery systems from OutBack Power Systems, Inc., a global manufacturer of power electronics products. Fat Spaniel’s monitoring system now communicates directly with the OutBack hardware to deliver real-time and historical energy system data about charge status, output, faults and greenhouse gas avoidance. The integrated offering helps system installers and operators effectively monitor and maintain remote, off-grid solar installations as well as grid-tie battery backup systems.
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