Solar Cells Info

Adds 53,000 Square Feet to Meet Global Demand for Turnkey Solar Factories; Annual Capacity for Equipment Now Exceeds 500 MW
Bedford, MA, Dec. 6, 2007
Source: Spire Corp./Businesswire Press releaes
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=76421&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1084891

Spire Corporation (Nasdaq: SPIR), a global solar company providing turnkey solar factories and capital equipment to manufacture photovoltaic modules worldwide, today announced it has expanded into an additional 53,000 square feet of solar equipment manufacturing space at its Bedford, Massachusetts headquarters facility. The company now maintains a total of approximately 144,000 square feet of manufacturing and headquarters space at this location.
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Bandwidth Semiconductor, Pioneer in Gallium Arsenide Solar Cells for Space Systems, Renamed Spire Semiconductor to Provide Solar Concentrator Cells for Terrestrial Applications
Bedfford, Mass, Dec. 13, 2007
Source: Spire Corp. /Businesswire press release
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=76421&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1087075

Spire Corporation (Nasdaq: SPIR), a global solar company providing turnkey solar factories and capital equipment to manufacture photovoltaic modules worldwide, today announced that Bandwidth Semiconductor, Spire’s wholly owned subsidiary, will become Spire Semiconductor effective January 1, 2008. Bandwidth currently provides Spire with crystalline silicon solar- cell process technology and has re-entered the fast-growing, gallium arsenide (GaAs) concentrator solar cell market. This name change will better align Bandwidth with Spire’s overall solar industry focus.
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320 Panels Will Deliver 80,574 Kilowatt Hours of Electricity Each Year
CYPRESS, CA,Dec 13, 2007
Source: BusinessWire.com
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/index.jsp?epi-content=GENERIC&newsId=20071213005379

Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA, Inc. has been selected to provide photovoltaic (PV) panels for the San Francisco Food Bank’s 55,000 sq.-ft. warehouse. The San Francisco Food Bank is one of the nation’s largest, distributing more than 28 million pounds of food to low-income families, individuals and 500 non-profit organizations each year.
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Solar Power, Inc. to Design and Install Photovoltaic Systems for Multiple Locations Across California
ROSEVILLE, CA,   December 10, 2007
Source. Businesswire
http://www.businesswire.com/

Solar Power, Inc. (“SPI”) (OTCBB:SOPW) has entered into an agreement with Solar Power Partners, Inc. a California-based renewable energy company specializing in Power Purchase Agreements (“PPAs”) as a vehicle for financing commercial installations of large-scale photovoltaic (“PV”) solar electric energy systems. “Our agreement with Solar Power Partners, Inc. and the systems we will be designing and installing for their customer are significant for a number of reasons,” said Steve Kircher, CEO of SPI. “Solar Power Partners’ customer is a major national retailer that has successfully tested and is now converting its retail facilities to photovoltaic solar electricity. It demonstrates the growing adoption of PV solar systems by businesses as a means to contain operating expenses in the face of rising energy costs.”
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Prenzlau/Oldenburg, Germany, 13 Dec 2007
source: PressPortal.de press release
http://www.presseportal.de/pm/56282/1102055/aleo_solar_ag

Aleo solar AG can already report firm orders for 2008 in Germany of more than EUR 25 million. The relevant contracts for aleo modules were signed with a number of dealers, fitters and solar technology specialists in December and will take effect in 2008.  Business is booming according to Norbert Schlesiger, Sales Manager for Germany. “There is strong demand for our premium modules, especially on the German market for roof-mounted installations. This is a very good start to 2008 for us. New orders for system components such as inverters and mounting systems are also up sharply”, he said.
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Energy savings will allow for more food to feed area hungry
Washihngton, Dec. 12, 2007
Source: BP America /PRNews press release
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/071212/nyw068.html?.v=101

BP America and the Capital Area Food Bank (CAFB) today announced a $1 million donation of BP Solar panels and other equipment that will make CAFB’s proposed new facility a local showcase of the latest solar technology. The solar system, which will be capable of generating 121.8 kW of clean electricity, will save more than 20 percent of CAFB’s annual electricity bill.  The CAFB is the largest public nonprofit, hunger and nutrition education resource in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. Each year, the CAFB distributes 20 million pounds of food, including 6 million pounds of fresh produce through more than 700 member agencies. The energy saved by the solar installation will not only reduce the environmental footprint of the building, but also will result in economic savings that can be used to secure more food to feed the area’s hungry.
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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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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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