Solar Cells Info

SolFocus 1100S slated for medium- to utility-scale installations
Mountain View, Calif., November 13, 2008
Source: SolFocus.com press release
http://www.solfocus.com/news_file/20081113075827_sf-pr-sf1100-fin-111108.pdf

SolFocus today announced its latest Concentrator Photovoltaic (CPV) solution – the SolFocus 1100S. This new CPV system achieves panel efficiencies of 25% resulting in systems which produce the highest energy density and highest energy yield of photovoltaic systems available today. SolFocus customer EMPE Solar will deploy the SolFocus 1100S in its recently announced 10 megawatt utility-scale project, expected to be the largest deployment of CPV technology in Europe. (more…)

by Yoichiro Hata, EE Times, Tokyo, 07 Nov 2008
Source: EETimes.com
http://www.eetimes.com/news/semi/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212001306

In a dramatic restructuring within the Japanese consumer electronics industry, Panasonic Corp. and Sanyo Electric Co. have entered into takeover discussions that would result in Sanyo becoming a Panasonic subsidiary, Panasonic president Fumio Ohtsubo confirmed Friday (Nov. 7).  The pending deal is not focused on either company’s traditional product lines but rather on solar cells and rechargeable batteries for hybrid and electric cars.
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Asia Pulse/LexisNexis, November 26, 2008
Source: Semiconductor.net
http://www.semiconductor.net/articleXml/LN890291678.html

Japan’s Sustainable Titania Technology Inc. (STi) has developed a way to boost the energy conversion efficiency of thin-film solar cells by about 20 per cent.  The process involves fabricating a highly reflective film on the backside of the electricity-generating layer of the solar cell so that less light is lost.
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Nikkei Electronics Asia, Oct 30, 2008
Source: TechOn
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20081030/160514/

Mitsui Chemicals Inc (MCI) has announced that its subsidiary, Mitsui Chemicals Fabro Inc (MFI), will expand its production capacity for a solar cell encapsulant, SOLAR EVA. MFI is a manufacturer and supplier of SOLA R EVA.
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Nikkei Electronics Asia, Nov 21, 2008
Source: TechOn
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20081121/161631/

JA Solar Holdings Co Ltd of China and BP Alternative Energy Holdings Ltd, a subsidiary of BP plc, have announced their intention to jointly develop and market part of their solar photovoltaic (PV) product portfolio over the next five years. The definitive commercial agreement is expected to be entered into before year end. (more…)

Nikkei Electronics Asia, Nov 26, 2008
Source: TechOn
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20081126/161869/

Emcore Corp has announced its first deployment of a concentrator photovoltaics (CPV) system in China with the XinAo Group, one of China’s energy companies. As part of an earlier agreement, the 50kW test and evaluation system is fully installed and operational, and is producing power in accordance with specifications. (more…)

Nikkei Electronics Asia, Nov 28, 2008
Source: TechOn
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20081128/162044/

Tokuyama Corp plans to build its second polycrystalline silicon manufacturing base at the Samalaju Industrial Park in Sarawak, Malaysia. The company has decided to start drafting the basic design of the facility. The basic design, scheduled to be completed by the middle of 2009, will be created through a partnering agreement with Chiyoda Corp. (more…)

by Motonobu Kawai, Nikkei Microdevices, Nov 28, 2008
Source: TechOn
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20081128/162005/

Sharp announced that it will start full-scale mass production of its crystalline Si solar cells with a cell conversion efficiency of 20% in 2010.  “It is going to be more powerful than any other residential crystalline silicon solar cell,” said Toshishige Hamano, executive vice president of Sharp Corp.
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New Facility to Increase KYOCERA’s Global Output to 650 Megawatts Per Year by March 2012
KYOTO, Japan, Nov 14, 2008
Source: Kyocera Corp, press release/BUSINESS WIRE
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/KYOCERA-Announces-Construction-New-Solar/story.aspx?guid=%7B5273C543-7F20-494D-9435-97617222A9F9%7D

Kyocera Corporation (President: Makoto Kawamura) today announced plans to build a new large-scale solar cell manufacturing facility. The new plant, located in Yasu City, Shiga Prefecture, Japan, will be the Kyocera Group’s largest manufacturing facility in Japan.  Construction of the plant is planned to start in early 2009 and be completed by year’s end, with production scheduled to begin in the spring of 2010. Combined with Kyocera’s existing Yohkaichi plant, the new facility will permit the company to more than double its annual production of solar cells aEUR- from this year’s projected output of 300 megawatts (MW) to 650MW by March 2012. The new plant will manufacture Kyocera’s new back-contact cell, which yields 18.5% energy conversion efficiency. (more…)

Tokyo, November 27, 2008
Source: Reuters/International Herald Tribune
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/27/business/sharp.php

Sharp of Japan, Enel of Italy and a third manufacturer will invest more than $2.6 billion in Italian solar power ventures to tap growing demand for cleaner energy.  Top solar power firms are hurrying to expand capacity even as the sector smarts from a worsening global economy, which is drying up financing for new ventures and forcing smaller solar power firms to push back investment.  Sharp, the world’s No.2 maker of solar cells after the German company Q-Cells, said it and Enel planned to spend about ¥100 billion, or $1.05 billion, to set up solar power generating plants in Italy with a total generating capacity of 189 megawatts by the end of 2012. (more…)