Solar Cells Info

By Abigail L. Ho, Philippine Daily Inquirer,
Manila, Philippines, July 18, 2008

In an effort to promote renewable energy use and at the same time provide electricity to far-flung areas, the state-owned Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) has paid P17.2 million for the Solar Homes System Distribution Project of Shell Solar Philippines Corp.  Company president Antonio Cailao said PNOC aimed to lead in promoting solar energy use in the Philippines through this project. (more…)

By IT News Africa staff reporter, August 8, 2008
Source: ITNewsAfrica.com
http://www.itnewsafrica.com/?p=856

MEC for Education, Yousuf Gabru, opened the first solar-powered school computer laboratory today. The Khanya Project of the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) installed the laboratory at Bernadino Heights Secondary School in Kraaifontein. The task is to install and support technology to enhance teaching and learning in the schools. Scarce energy and power resources and effect of technology on the ecology and the ever-rising cost to consumers of energy and power, makes the launch of the solar powered computer laboratory a significant event. (more…)

Posted by Elsa Wenzel, July 24, 2008
Source: GreenTech/CNet.com
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9998606-54.html

First Solar is teaming up with Sempra Generation to build in the Nevada desert what could become North America’s largest thin-film photovoltaic plant. The 10-megawatt project would be located 40 miles southeast of Las Vegas, next to Sempra’s natural gas plant in El Dorado. “As a result, the impact to the immediate environment is minimal and the project completion timeline will be shorter,” Mike Ahearn, CEO of First Solar, said in a statement. (more…)

Source: Trading Markets.com/ August 7, 2008
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1810520/

Kohl’s Department Stores (NYSE: KSS), a speciality department store, announced on Wednesday (6 August) that the company will expand its solar programme to the state of Oregon in the US.
The company plans to convert four of its nine stores in Oregon, which is reportedly the sixth state under the company’s solar power programme, to solar power. In addition to Oregon, Kohl’s has solar projects underway in California, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey and Wisconsin.

Kohl’s said that solar panel installation will begin in August at the Hillsboro store, the first Kohl’s location scheduled for solar power in Oregon. Also, plans are underway to convert three additional Oregon stores to solar power. On average, solar panels will provide about 25% of each store’s energy requirements.  When complete, the four Oregon installations are expected to collectively provide up to 900 kilowatts of power and are expected to produce up to 1 million kilowatt-hours of energy per year.

New Solution Answers the Call for Solar Power for Flat Roof Home and Commercial Buildings
SAN FRANCISCO, CA., July 2, 2008
Source: Akeena Solar press release
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=201840&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1171457

Akeena Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq:AKNS), one of the United States’ leading designers and installers of solar power systems, today launched its Andalay Flat Roof Solar Power System. Homeowners and businesses now have a sleek, reliable and high-performing solar solution to answer the marketplace demand for flat roof solar power systems.  In urban areas like San Francisco, solar hasn’t been a real option for customers who live in buildings with flat rooftops. When we debuted our innovative Andalay technology eight months ago, it was the first radical change in solar panel design in three decades. Now we are taking that high performance, highly reliable technology one step further and enabling everyone to benefit from solar, regardless of where they live, said Gary Mull, vice president at Akeena Solar. Electricity prices are skyrocketing, and it’s time that every homeowner has access to clean, cheap, renewable energy from the sun. (more…)

Nation’s Leading Solar Installer Answers the Call in Rapidly Growing Market
LOS GATOS, CA., Aug. 5, 2008
Source: Akeena Solar Inc, press release
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=201840&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1183725

Responding to consumer demand and a booming residential solar market in New England, Akeena Solar (Nasdaq:AKNS), one of the United States’ leading solar installers, today announced it will expand its operations into Connecticut. The new location at 435 Boston Post Road, Milford, Conn., is the tenth office opened by Akeena Solar.  The company has already completed more than 40 installations in Connecticut, and due to the recent passage of new rebates in Connecticut and rising electricity costs, the demand for Akeena Solar’s award-winning beautifully designed, high performance Andalay panels is rapidly growing. (more…)

Teams With Pleasanton to Bring Popular Community-Based Solar Adoption Program
LOS GATOS, CA., Aug. 1, 2008
Source: Akeena Solar Inc press release
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=201840&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1182635

After a successful eight week community program, Akeena Solar (Nasdaq:AKNS), one of the United States’ leading solar installers and a preferred solar Installer for Livermore, today announced nearly 30 new homeowners have signed up to go solar. Together, the systems will generate 117 kW of solar electricity and will offset about 280,753 pounds of carbon dioxide a year — the equivalent of removing 23 cars off the road each year for 30 years. (more…)

The new company will commercialize FLATCON® concentration technology-based solar power plants.
Sevilla, April 3, 2008
Source: Abengoa Solar press release
http://www.abengoasolar.es/sites/solar/en/noticia9.jsp

Abengoa Solar and Concentrix Solar GmbH have decided to team up, sharing their expertise and leadership, with the creation of Concentrix Iberia. The company has emerged with the aim of commercializing solar power plants based on FLATCON® concentration technology; that is, solar modules with the highest efficiencies on the market.  Concentrix Solar GmbH, a leader in photovoltaic concentration (CPV), was founded in February, 2005 to commercialize the technology for solar energy systems developed by the Fraunhofer Institute of Solar Energy Systems (ISE), in Germany. (more…)

Fourteen banks are participating in the financing of four new solar projects.
Madid, August 7, 2008
Source: Abengoa Solar press release
http://www.abengoasolar.es/sites/solar/en/noticia12.jsp

Abengoa Solar has completed the financing of the new Solnova 4 Concentrating Solar Power plant and three new photovoltaic plants worth more than €210 million and €70 million respectively. The institutions involved in the financing are Banesto, Caja Madrid, Calyon, Dexia Sabadell, ING, Kfw, Ladesbank, Natixis, Santander, Société Générale and Ubibanca for the construction and start-up of Solnova 4, and La Caixa, Sumitomo and West LB for the photovoltaic plants. (more…)

By David Ehrlich, Cleantech Group Exclusive, August 8, 2008
Source: CleanTech.com
http://media.cleantech.com/3213/ethiopia-powers-solar-energy

Germany’s Solar Energy Foundation aims to improve living conditions and foster a solar industry in Ethiopia.  The rural village of Rema in Ethiopia could become a cleantech boom-town if the work of Germany’s Solar Energy Foundation continues its success in the region. Since 2006, the foundation has installed 2,000 solar systems in Rema and in nearby Rema ena Dire, the biggest solar power project in East Africa. The project has brought power to 5,500 residents in a country where only one percent of people in rural areas have access to electricity. (more…)