Solar Cells Info

By Michael Kanellos, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: November 20, 2006, 10:15 AM PT
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6137205.html

The venture arm of equipment maker Applied Materials has invested $3 million into Solaicx, a small company trying to put a dent into the shortage of silicon for solar cells. Solaicx specializes in equipment for making silicon ingots, logs of pure silicon that get heated to high temperatures and then sliced like lunch meats to make silicon wafers. The silicon in the ingots must meet an extraordinarily high level of purity. As a result, producing silicon wafers for the solar industry, which subsequently can be chopped up and processed for solar cells, is a difficult and expensive process.

(more…)

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

source: Toledoblade.com
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061129/BUSINESS03/611290407

It’s been a public company less than two weeks, but in that short time span First Solar Inc. – whose entire source of solar panel production is its plant in Perrysburg Township – has been heating up on the Nasdaq market. The company, which has its roots in Toledo but is located in Phoenix now, went began trading stock publicly on Nov. 17 and predicted beforehand the price would start at $17 to $19 a share. However, it opened at $21, closed its first day at $24, and has since hit $29 a share.

(more…)

Joint Press Release from Q-Cells AG & Solibro AB

source
http://www.q-cells.com/cmadmin_2_1139_0.html

Thalheim/Wolfen and Uppsala, November 23, 2006

Q-Cells AG is investing in a new photovoltaic technology to complement its current technology portfolio. Q-Cells, the world’s second-largest manufacturer of solar cells, is joining forces with Solibro AB from Uppsala, Sweden, to set up a joint venture under the name of Solibro GmbH, in which Q-Cells will hold a share of 67.5%.

Solibro GmbH will commercialise the copper indium gallium di-selenide (CIGS) thin-film technology developed in Sweden by Solibro AB. For this purpose there are plans to build an
initial factory in Thalheim, which will have an annual production capacity of 25 to 30 MWp. Q-Cells AG will initially pay Solibro AB € 4 million for its 67.5% share and € 20 million against the achievement of technological milestones, and has committed € 60 million to the joint venture. The parties involved are expected to take a decision on the construction of the first production site in Thalheim by mid 2007. The amount of € 60 million will then be invested in this first stage of expansion.

(more…)

Tuesday, November 28, 2006
By John J. Fialka, The Wall Street Journal
Article published in post-gazette.com
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06332/741837-28.stm

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Stanford R. Ovshinsky has spent 40 years — and millions of dollars in backing from various partners — pursuing his dream. He wanted to build a huge machine that would make giant sheets of material that can generate solar power. “I said we are going to make it by the mile,” he recalls. “Nobody believed me, not even in my own company.”

Today, Mr. Ovshinsky, 84 years old, finds himself running his factory at full capacity and overwhelmed with orders. His company, Energy Conversion Devices Inc., is the largest U.S.-owned maker of photovoltaic materials, which convert sunlight to electricity. The company is a pioneer in an exploding global industry selling $15 billion a year of what’s called “PV.” The company’s mammoth machine extends the length of a football field. It runs much like a printing press, spooling out thin sheets of the PV material, which can be used on roofs of homes or businesses. As energy costs rise, along with concerns about global warming, PV is in demand.

(more…)

Plan under way to build German production facility that will manufacture solar modules based on CIS technology.

Torgau, Germany
Source: RenewableEnergyAccess.com
http://renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=46677

With news headlines around the world reporting on the silicon shortage and its potential impact on the future of the solar industry, two European-based companies are banking that next-generation non-silicon technology will be a cost-competitive — and energy efficient — alternative to silicon solar modules.

Shell Erneuerbare Energien GmbH and Saint-Gobain Glass Deutschland GmbH, recently announced plans to join forces and create AVANCIS — an entity that will develop, produce and market next generation solar technology based on Shell’s advanced Copper-Indium-Selenium (CIS) thin-film deposited on glass. One of the first orders of business for AVANCIS will be to build a manufacturing plant in Torgau, Germany that will produce photovoltaic panels using the CIS technology.

(more…)

source: press release SES Solar
www.sessolar.com

GENEVA — (MARKET WIRE) — November 29, 2006

SES Solar Inc. (OTCBB: SESI), a leading European-based developer of cost-effective, high productivity solar panels and solar roof tiles, is pleased to announce that it has received and accepted subscriptions for approximately USD 3.7 million (CHF 4.6 million) relating to a private placement for 4,100,001 common shares of the company at USD 0.90 per share. Proceeds from the financing will be used for the construction of the company´s new state-of-the-art solar panel manufacturing facility in Geneva.

(more…)

source:  http://www.prnewswire.com/

WUXI, China and OLNEY, Md., Nov. 30 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/

Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP), one of the world’s leading manufacturers of photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules, has announced a multi-year contract to supply solar modules to a division of Sun Edison, LLC, North America’s largest solar energy service provider. The total value of the contract ranges from approximately $50 million to $90 million over the term of the contract. The contract is structured in a similar manner as Suntech’s long-term silicon supply agreement in order to enhance steady operating results.

(more…)

Madrid, 29 November 2006
Source: press release
http://www.endesa.es/Portal/

Collaboration agreement signed with ISOFOTON, the leading Spanish manufacturer of solar panels, which will ensure ENDESA’s equipment supply needs
* The agreement additionally contemplates the participation of both companies with the regional government of Andalusia in a polysilicone plant, the seventh in the world, which will guarantee the supply of this raw material for the manufacture of photovoltaic modules. ENDESA will supply the power required to operate the plant.
* The agreement also provides for collaboration on several projects designed to demonstrate concentrating photovoltaic technology (CPV), which will subsequently facilitate the manufacture of more efficient solar modules.

(more…)

MENLO PARK, CA — (MARKET WIRE) — November 28, 2006

Source:  MarketWire.com
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=188681

Solar EnerTech Corp. (OTCBB: SOEN) (the Company) wishes to announce that on November 23rd, the Company achieved a significant goal as the first batch of solar modules rolled off its newly assembled production line, exactly one week earlier than its planned end-of-November product launch, announced on November 2nd. To commemorate the occasion, Management invited a group of visitors including Shanghai government officials to attend the event. Company CEO Leo Shi Young delivered a brief speech thanking all those individuals who have contributed to the launch, and further affirmed that this milestone is the direct result of months of round-the-clock effort by everyone involved, especially the technical, engineering and subcontractor teams working diligently alongside Company Management. Guests and employees cheered the long-awaited results of those efforts as Leo Young unveiled two dozen dark blue solar modules arrayed at the end of the Company’s first production line. Each high conversion module represents 170 watts of quality-built solar electric power generating capability ready for delivery.

(more…)

Octillion Announces Development Plan For New Solar To Electricity Glass Windows (NanoPowerWindows)
New nanosilicon photovoltaic solar cell technology could adapt home and office glass windows into ones capable of generating electricity from sunlight without losing significant transparency or requiring major changes in manufacturing infrastructure.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia–(BUSINESS WIRE)  November 28, 2006
Source: businesswire.com press release

Octillion Corp. (OTC:OCTL) is pleased to announce that its research and development initiatives are well under way for the development of a new patent-pending technology using nanosilicon photovoltaic solar cells that have the potential to convert normal home and office glass windows into ones capable of converting solar energy into electricity. These nanosilicon photovoltaic solar cells are created through a unique electrochemical and ultrasound process that produces identically sized (1 to 4 nanometers in diameter) highly luminescent nanoparticles of silicon that provide varying wavelengths of photoluminescence with high quantum down conversion efficiency of short wavelengths (50% to 60%). The process of producing these silicon nanoparticles is supported by 10 issued US patents, 7 pending US patents, 2 issued foreign counterpart patents and 19 pending foreign counterpart patents.

(more…)