Solar Cells Info

By Alan J. Heavens, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 13 Feb 2009
Source: San Jose Mercury News
http://www.mercurynews.com/homeandgarden/ci_11699095?nclick_check=1

You may not be able to spend thousands of dollars to convert your house to solar power. But there are smaller, less expensive ways to do your environmental part with the sun’s help.  Many solar products are available, though there are limits to what some can do. Still, anything to reduce your carbon footprint is worth doing. (more…)

Suntech’s Shi Zhengrong built one of the world’s biggest solar-power companies. Now, with economies slowing, he faces the challenge of a lifetime.
By Bill Powell, senior writer, February 11, 2009:
Source: CNNMoney.com/FORTUNE
http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/11/news/international/powell_shi.fortune/

On a chilly Saturday afternoon in mid-January, Shi Zhengrong, casually dressed and smiling as if he didn’t have a care in the world, walked into the stunning new building that is now the headquarters of Suntech Power Holdings, the company he founded and built from scratch just eight years ago.  (more…)

Solar pioneer’s approach to high-volume manufacturing provides foundation for new economy dominated by “green jobs”
Hillsboro, Ore., October 17, 2008
Source: Solar World, press release
http://www.solarworld-usa.com/SolarWorld-Opens-North.2679.0.html

SolarWorld, a world leader in high quality solar power technology, today opens North America’s largest solar cell manufacturing facility. The new plant is located in Hillsboro, Oregon and is expected to reach a capacity of 500 megawatts (MW) by 2011.  Solar power is increasingly considered the most promising energy alternative because of advances in technology and high-volume manufacturing. Facilities like the one SolarWorld is pioneering will reduce the costs of solar power and increase the number of green jobs, accelerating commercial and residential installations of solar panels and overall economic growth. (more…)

Source: ScienceDaily, Feb. 10, 2009
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090210125531.htm

A team of Los Alamos researchers led by Victor Klimov has shown that carrier multiplication—when a photon creates multiple electrons—is a real phenomenon in tiny semiconductor crystals and not a false observation born of extraneous effects that mimic carrier multiplication. The research, explained in a recent issue of Accounts of Chemical Research, shows the possibility of solar cells that create more than one unit of energy per photon. (more…)

by Matt Hickey,  February 13, 2009
Source: CNet news
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10164232-1.html

I have a few friends (who shall remain nameless) who are often unreachable because they don’t charge their phones when they should. These same friends should look into the new Samsung Blue Earth, which is to be unveiled in a couple days at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.  The phone is green, despite its blue color, and it’s not just the integrated solar panels that make it so. The Blue Earth is made of recycled plastic, features a pedometer, and even software that reaffirms just how much you’re helping the planet by using it. If Al Gore had one of these mobile devices in hand, it would likely explode. (more…)

By Steve Almasy, CNN, Jan 28, 2009
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/01/28/solar.powered.cars

Toyota’s third-generation Prius, due at dealerships this spring, will have an optional solar panel on its roof. The panel will power a ventilation system that can cool the car without help from the engine, Toyota says.  Solar Electric Vehicles in California makes a roof-mounted solar panel for a standar Toyota Prius.  But it’s a long way from the 2010 Prius to a solar-powered car, experts told CNN. Most agree that there just isn’t enough space on a production car to get full power from solar panels. (more…)

By Ucilia Wang, Greentech Media, February 04, 2009
Source: Seekingalpha.com
http://seekingalpha.com/article/118477-q-cells-subsidiary-scales-up-
micromorph-production-together-with-applied-materials

A Q-Cells (QCLSF.PK) subsidiary that makes micromorph thin-film solar panels is scaling up its production nicely, the company said Tuesday.  Sontor, founded in 2006, started mass production at its German factory last August and rolled out 3.6 megawatts worth of solar panels last year. A solar power plant in Lower Bavaria installed 1.6 megawatts worth of those panels, which are now producing power and hooked up to the grid, the company said. (more…)

By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY, 20 Jan 2009
Source: USA Today.com
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2009-01-19-solar-panel-cars-automakers-prius_N.htm

Even as skies are gray this winter, automakers are looking to sunnier times — not just for more sales, but also to power solar cells going on new cars.  Toyota (TM) just announced that the next-generation Prius will have an optional solar panel that powers an electric fan. The fan activates to cool the cabin when the car is parked and the interior temperature rises.  Fisker Automotive, a start-up based in Irvine, Calif., goes further. The luxury hybrid shown at last week’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit has a large solar panel that supplies extra juice to the battery. (more…)

Toronto, Feb 02, 2009
Source: Canadian Solar Inc, press release
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=196781&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1250809

Canadian Solar Inc. today announced the official opening of its new PV Cell Research Center. The new center is located in the Company’s solar cell Fab II in Suzhou and consolidates all of the Company’s R&D facilities in one place.  The purpose of the center is to improve the efficiency and production yield of both regular polysilicon cells and our proprietary solar grade e-cells. CSI has been actively investigating several high efficiency solar cell structures, including selective emitter, N-type and back-contact cells. The Company has ongoing research programs with DuPont, University of Toronto and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. (more…)

by Rick Merritt, EE Times, San Jose, CA, 27 Jan 2009
Source: EETimes.com
http://www.eetimes.com/news/design/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212903004

A San Jose startup has licensed materials technology that can harvest energy from infrared light, boosting the efficiency of solar cells. Solexant aims to commercialize one of many advances under development at a photonics institute at the University of Buffalo.  “This is a very exciting period as new dimensions in photonics keep emerging in areas such as energy and health care,” said Paras N. Prasad, executive director of the university research group, speaking in a keynote at Photonics West here. (more…)