Solar Cells Info

Chico, California, January 14, 2008
Source: RenewableEnergyAccess.com
http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=51114

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., a craft brewing company based in California, has announced that it has commissioned the first phase of what will be one of the country’s largest private solar installations. This commissioning comes on the heels of the installation of four 250-kilowatt co-generation fuel cell power units, also one of the largest fuel cell installations in the United States.
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08 Feb 2008
Source: Pink Tentacle.com
http://www.pinktentacle.com/2008/02/jaxa-testing-space-solar-power-system/
Hokkaido Shimbun /http://www.hokkaido-np.co.jp/news/environment/74756.html

For decades, scientists have explored the possibility of using space-based solar cells to power the Earth. Some see orbiting power stations as a clean and stable energy source that promises to slow global warming, while others dismiss the idea as an expensive and impractical solution to the world’s energy problems. While the discussion goes on, researchers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have begun to develop the hardware.
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Staff report, February 9, 2008
Source: Charleston.net
http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/feb/09/blackbaud_stadium_going_solar30090/

On many nights, Blackbaud Stadium is powered by the Battery. Now the Daniel Island soccer facility will be solar-powered as well.   The Charleston Battery has joined the pro-environmental movement with its a “Go Green” initiative which it hopes will help reduce its carbon footprint.   To achieve this goal, the Battery is implementing a wide range of energy-saving and environmental initiatives at Blackbaud Stadium, highlighted by the installation of 60 solar panels. (more…)

Vacaville, CA, Calif., Jan 31, 2008
Source: OCR Solar & Roofing/press release/PRNewswire
http://www.ocrsolarandroofing.com./

OCR Solar & Roofing and BP Solar, a global leader in solar energy, today announced an expanded agreement to provide turn-key solar installations to production homebuilders throughout Northern and Central California. Within the framework of the expanded agreement, valued at over $10 million, OCR Solar & Roofing will receive the exclusive right to offer BP Solar’s market-leading EnergyTile roof-integrated solar modules to production homebuilders in Northern and Central California. In addition, OCR Solar & Roofing will also offer BP Solar’s low profile Integra(R: 58.44, +0.03, +0.05%) framing system for asphalt shingle roofs.
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By Maggie Ayre, BBC Radio 4 /Costing the Earth/7 February 2008
Source: BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7232328.stm

Even in grey, overcast Britain, some householders are managing to use solar power to meet their energy needs.  But there are far more ambitious plans for Europe to import solar power from huge installations in North Africa.
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Changzhou, China, Jan. 29, 2008
Source: Trina Solar Ltd press release/PRNewswire
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/
CNTU02129012008-1.htm

Trina Solar Limited (“Trina Solar” or the “Company”) and SolarAccess announce the inauguration of 2007’s largest PV system installation in the Netherlands, a roof integrated system at the new Amsterdam Library (Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam).   The project was carried out by SolarAccess, an international provider of PV installations with business in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and France. Trina Solar, a leading integrated manufacturer of solar photovoltaic products from the production of ingots, wafers, and cells to the assembly of PV modules, supplied over 450 units of their 180W solar modules needed for this key project to SolarAccess as part of the long-term relationship between both companies.
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Costco Goes Green with Mitsubishi Electric Solar Array
San Luis Obispo, CA, Jan 30, 2008lif.
Source; REC Solar /press release /Businesswire
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view
&newsId=20080130005329&newsLang=en

REC Solar, a rapidly growing provider of residential and commercial solar electric systems, and Mitsubishi Electric have announced the completion of Hawaii’s two largest solar installations for the Costco Wholesale locations in Kauai and Kona. The two systems, which are 680 kilowatts (DC) each, hold the distinction of being the biggest solar arrays in the state of Hawaii to date. Collectively, these systems will generate enough electricity to power 250 homes.
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Solar firms to share research in bid to speed development of new super-efficient thin-film solar cell technology
Sarah Griffiths, BusinessGreen, 08 Feb 2008
Source: BusinessGreen.com
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2209279/german-solar-giants-ink-thin

German solar firms Schott Solar and ersol Thin Film GmbH have announced they are joining forces to accelerate the development of thin-film solar cells, which they claim could increase module efficiency by 50 per cent.  The firms will combine research and development resources as part of an initiative to develop a micromorphous thin-film module with a double-layer structure consisting of an amorphous and a microcrystalline film. The firms claim the double-layer structure should result in improved cell efficiency as it results in two layers of silicon converting the entire light spectrum into power.
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Posted by Keith Johnson
Guy Chazan reports, February 7, 2008
Source: The Wall Streets Journal
http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2008/02/07/
siberia-solar-powers-next-heartland/?mod=googlenews_wsj

Nitol Solar wants to become one of the world’s biggest producers of high-purity silicon, the main ingredient of solar cells. That’s pretty ambitious, considering it only started making tiny amounts of the stuff last month.  But these are strange times. Nitol is selling 25-30% of its equity in an IPO in London next week and its advisers say it’ll have no trouble raising $250-300 million. That would give the company a total market cap of as much as $750 million. Not bad for an outfit whose main asset is a Cold War-era chemical plant in the depths of Siberia.
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Posted : by DPA
Hamburg, Germany, 04 Feb 2008
Source: EarthTimes.org
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/
182372,carbon-electrodes-could-slash-cost-of-solar-panels.html

These electrodes are usually made from indium tin oxide (ITO) but experts calculate that there is only 10 years’ worth of indium left on the planet, with LCD panels consuming the majority of existing stocks.   “There is not enough indium on earth for the future development of devices using it,” Linjie Zhi of the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany, told New Scientist. “It is also not very stable, so you have to be careful during the fabrication process.”
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