Solar Cells Info

Reporting by Sakari Suoninen; editing by James Jukwey
HELSINKI, Feb 20, 2008
Source: Reuters UK
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKL2047318020080220

Finnish copper products maker Luvata said on Wednesday it would invest 20 million euros ($29 million) in production equipment for solar panel wires, hoping to benefit from renewable energy boom.  Solar panel makers are demanding thinner photovoltaic wires as panels become smaller, and Luvata’s thinner wires minimise shadowing on the energy-capturing cells, it said.
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By Duke Helfand, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, February 20, 2008
Source: LATimes
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/
la-me-green20feb20,1,1943355.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other municipal leaders unveiled a green energy initiative Tuesday by the city’s utility that they predict will create as many as 400 union jobs over the next three years to install and maintain solar panels on city buildings and other structures around Los Angeles.
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By Cathy McKitrick, The Salt Lake Tribune
Feb 22, 2008
Source: Salt Lake Tribune
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_8332840

Imagine powering your home by harnessing the sun’s energy – without having to install costly solar panels.  A bill advancing on Capitol Hill could allow Utah’s sun-kissed St. George to lead out with a city-built solar project where residents could buy shares, tap the energy and receive tax credits as if they had put the equipment on their own roofs. St. George City Attorney Shawn Guzman said the city already has land set aside for the solar arrays near its sewage treatment plant. (more…)

Escalating oil prices are pushing operators to use alternative energies to power cellular base stations in remote areas of the world
by Jack Ewing, Europe /Feb. 20, 2008
Source: BusinessWeek.com
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/feb2008/gb20080220_277413.htm

Mobile phones long ago began conquering parts of the world that are far away from the nearest electrical substation. But the rising price of oil is exposing a problem with the networks that connect mobile handsets together.  In the far reaches of places like India or Africa, where companies such as Ericsson (ERIC) or Nokia Siemens Networks, a joint venture of Nokia (NOK) and Siemens (SI), are installing new cellular base stations at a furious pace, the facilities almost always get their power from diesel-powered generators. (more…)

by Emma Ritch  / February 29, 2008
Source: Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2008/03/03/
story1.html?b=1204520400%5E1598029

The solar industry is giving rise to a new crop of small businesses, but these companies are hitting roadblocks when it comes to filling their “green collar” jobs.  Despite unprecedented interest in clean technology, the small firms that make up most of the solar industry in the Bay Area are struggling because they need more workers who are trained and certified to complete the complex tasks associated with photovoltaic systems, according to the first comprehensive report on the solar industry in the Bay Area.
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by Grayson Steinberg. Cronkite News Service
Phoenix, AZ, Feb. 28, 2008
Source: Tucsoncitizen.com
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/78158.php

As Arizona looks to tap more of its most abundant resource, sunshine, state lawmakers want to create tax breaks for power plant builders and to help homeowners, businesses and schools convert to solar power.  At least six bills this session address solar energy. (more…)

by Andy Vuong, February 28, 2008
Source: DenverPost
http://blogs.denverpost.com/vuong/2008/02/28/ascent-solar-partners-with-japans-itochu/

Ascent Solar, a budding solar energy firm in Colorado, announced a new partnership this morning with ITOCHU Corp. of Japan. The partnership could help Ascent distribute its solar panels in Japan and other parts of the world.  Ascent makes flexible solar panels or modules that can be used in building materials. It has a deal with a Norwegian company that will use Ascent’s technology in curtains.
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FreeLoader 8.0 Portable Solar Charger Launched, promises to power an iPod for 18 hours
by Stuart Miles, 28 feb. 2008
Source:
http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news/news.phtml/13114/14138/
gadget-solar-power-charger-launched.phtml

Tech fans users can now show their green credentials by opting to charge their new shiny gadgets by solar power.  Solar Technology has launched its latest solar power charger the FreeLoader 8.0 Portable Solar Charger. It, according to the company, promises to charge a multitude of the latest mobile gadgets for free using solar energy even with our poor weather in the UK.
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Peccell Develops Large-Area High-Voltage Solar Cell Modules; To Start Sample Shipments of Thin Flexible Solar Cells in 2009
Yokohama, Japan, Feb 26, 2008
Source: Peccell Technologies press release/  JCN Newswire
http://japancorp.net/Article.Asp?Art_ID=17102
Peccell Technologies, Inc. has developed a technology to produce large-area high-voltage film-type dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) modules with a high-speed, low-cost printing process. Peccell, based in Yokohama City and led by Prof. Tsutomu Miyasaka, Toin University of Yokohama, has been developing next-generation thin flexible DSCs jointly with Fujimori Kogyo Co., Ltd. and Showa Denko K.K.
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Sharp Reaches 2 GW of Cumulative Solar Cell Production Volume; Result of More Than 40 Years of Trusted Experience Since Starting Mass-Production in 1963
Osaka, Japan, Feb 27, 2008
Source: Sharp Corp. press release / JCN Newswire
http://japancorp.net/Article.Asp?Art_ID=17126

At the end of 2007, Sharp Corporation became the first company to reach 2 GW in cumulative solar cell production volume in the world. Sharp has been involved with solar power for 49 years: the company began research into solar cells in 1959 to develop a new technology to follow the success of the television and started mass-production in 1963. It is estimated that the current world’s cumulative solar cell production volume is 8 GW, meaning Sharp has produced a full one-quarter of this.
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