Solar Cells Info

By: University of New South Wales, May 3, 2007
source:
http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_56150.shtml

Solar energy could become more affordable following a breakthrough by UNSW scientists, who have boosted the efficiency of solar cell technology.  The advance could see the price of an installed solar system for an average house fall from around $20,000 to $15,000. Up to 45 percent of the cost of solar cell technology is due to the high cost of the silicon used to convert sunlight to electricity.
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Source:  BBC News /April 29, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6600213.stm

More than 100,000 people in rural India have benefited from an innovative loan scheme that helps families buy home solar power systems, the UN has said. The $1.5m project, led by the UN Environment Programme (Unep), supports Indian bankers who offer finance to people who want to purchase a unit.
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Princeton, NJ – April 2, 2007
Source: Premier Power /press release
http://www.premierpower.com/solar_energy_company/pr_story.php?mid=7

Princeton University’s Engineering Quadrangle Building is now serving as the host site for two photovoltaic systems. The Engineering Building project will demonstrate new technologies developed to utilize the power of the sun as a clean and efficient source of renewable energy. By combining their engineering and manufacturing expertise Premier Power Renewable Energy, Inc. and Princeton Power Systems were able to deploy two unique solar power arrays at this prestigious educational facility.

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Paolo Joseph L.,  BusinessWorld , April 20, 2007
http://www.reed-electronics.com/semiconductor/articleXml/LN601025553.html

Laguna Technopark – Sun Power Philippines Manufacturing Ltd. plans to spend $1.3 billion to expand its solar cell-making facility over the next three years. The company, a subsidiary of California-based Cypress Semiconductor Corp. plans to make the Philippines its manufacturing hub for the solar cells that it exports to Europe, Japan and the US, said Sun Power Vice-President for Manufacturing Greg Reichow.  Other emerging markets for its solar cells are South Korea and southern Europe.
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Karachi, 20 April 2007
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan
http://www.app.com.pk/en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8001&Itemid=2

A leading UAE based, Dhabian Group of Companies will set up a manufacturing unit to produce high quality but cheaper small solar and wind power plants in Gwadar industrial area. This was stated by the Khalfan Saeed Al-Mazrui, Chairman, Dhabian Group and Director General, private department of Shaikh Nahyan Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, President of UAE here Friday. He said that Norwegian technology will be used to produce small solar and wind power plants which cost around $ 1000 each.

Each plant will generate electricity, sufficient to cater to the requirements of one village at a low cost.  Local production of these plants will further reduce the cost due to cheaper local labour, he added. These plants will be installed in the villages of Balochistan and Sindh where electricity has yet not reached.  Al-Mazrui said that he had been told that 40,000 villages in Pakistan were without electricity.
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Shanghai,  China, April 18, 2007
Source: BusinessWire
http://home.businesswire.com/
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/index.jsp?front_door=true

Solarfun Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ:SOLF), a leading manufacturer of photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules in China, and Ecostream, a leading renewable energy system integrator based in the Netherlands, are pleased to announce a supply framework agreement in which Ecostream has indicated its intention to procure 182MW of photovoltaic modules from Solarfun between 2007 – 2010. As a part of this agreement, Ecostream has committed to purchase 12MW of photovoltaic modules from Solarfun in 2007.
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By Tung Shing Yi, Channel NewsAsia, 27 April 2007
Source: Chanel NewsAsia
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/272911/1/.html

SINGAPORE : German-based energy firm SolarWorld is considering investing S$300 million in two solar plants in Singapore, over the next two years. SolarWorld is the world’s third largest solar energy company, and it received the International Headquarters award from the Economic Development Board (EDB) on Friday.
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UK’s CIS Solar Tower garners 390-kilowatts from the sun

Apr 21st 2007, by Darren Murph
http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/21/

We’re not entirely sure if Manchester’s CIS Solar Tower will be the world’s grandest solar tower, but in terms of buildings have moved beyond the drawing board, it definitely packs a punch. Reportedly, the flaky construction led to dilapidating walls, which were then replaced by a much greener solution — 7,244 Sharp 80W photovoltaic panels, to be precise. Curiously, only 4,898 of the modules are actually functional, but they still soak up enough sunlight to generate 390-kilowatts of energy, or in layman’s terms, enough juice to “power 1,000 PCs for a year.” Additionally, the roof is home to two dozen wind turbines that generate 10-percent of the total power used in the building. Of course, such an endeavor did ring up at a steep £5.675 million ($11.4 million), but we’re pretty certain this solar panel makeover was concerned with matters other than dollars and cents.
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By Leah Krauss
HAIFA, Israel (UPI), Apr 26, 2007
Source; M&C.com
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/energywatch/renewables/features/article_1297081.php/

The year 2020 could see enough solar power production around the Mediterranean to power 26 million homes in that region, according to the European Photovoltaic Industry Association. That was the conclusion reached at the EPIA`s Mediterranean conference last week in Athens. Greece, while trailing other European countries such as Spain and Germany in its solar incentives programs, has begun to legislate support for solar power, especially on its islands. The country mandated in June 2006 that solar reach 700 megawatts of installed solar power by 2020, though the EPIA predicted the capacity likely would exceed 1,200 megawatts by then.
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PHOENIX, Feb 14, 2007
Source: FirstSolar press release
http://investor.firstsolar.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=229884

First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq:FSLR) announced today that it will supply solar modules for a 40-megawatt solar power plant that will be constructed in the Saxon region of Germany in the municipality of Brandis by juwi solar GmbH. Upon completion, the project will be one of the largest photovoltaic projects ever constructed. Project construction is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2007 and is expected to be completed within 30 months.
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