Solar Cells Info

Solar pioneer’s approach to high-volume manufacturing provides foundation for new economy dominated by “green jobs”
Hillsboro, Ore., October 17, 2008
Source: Solar World, press release
http://www.solarworld-usa.com/SolarWorld-Opens-North.2679.0.html

SolarWorld, a world leader in high quality solar power technology, today opens North America’s largest solar cell manufacturing facility. The new plant is located in Hillsboro, Oregon and is expected to reach a capacity of 500 megawatts (MW) by 2011.  Solar power is increasingly considered the most promising energy alternative because of advances in technology and high-volume manufacturing. Facilities like the one SolarWorld is pioneering will reduce the costs of solar power and increase the number of green jobs, accelerating commercial and residential installations of solar panels and overall economic growth. (more…)

Tokyo, January 23, 2009
Source: Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd press release
http://www.sanyo.com/news/2009/01/23-1en.html

SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. and Nippon Oil Corporation today announced that they have decided to launch a joint company for the production and sale of thin-film solar panels, to be named SANYO ENEOS Solar Co., Ltd. (more…)

Frisco, TX, January 15, 2009
Source: Sanyo Energy Corp. press release
http://us.sanyo.com/News/
SANYO-Exhibits-HIT-Double-Solar-Panels-at-The-New-American-Home-2009

SANYO Energy (U.S.A.) Corporation, a subsidiary of SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. (SANYO), will display its advanced HIT®* Double solar panels at The New American Home® 2009, while participating in the 2009 International Builders’ Show® (IBS), from January 20 – 23, 2009 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, booth #C7759.  SANYO has donated 56 HIT Double bifacial solar panels to be integrated in trellis and awning structures for The New American Home®, which serves as the official showcase house of the IBS. (more…)

Source: ScienceDaily, Feb. 10, 2009
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090210125531.htm

A team of Los Alamos researchers led by Victor Klimov has shown that carrier multiplication—when a photon creates multiple electrons—is a real phenomenon in tiny semiconductor crystals and not a false observation born of extraneous effects that mimic carrier multiplication. The research, explained in a recent issue of Accounts of Chemical Research, shows the possibility of solar cells that create more than one unit of energy per photon. (more…)

by Matt Hickey,  February 13, 2009
Source: CNet news
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10164232-1.html

I have a few friends (who shall remain nameless) who are often unreachable because they don’t charge their phones when they should. These same friends should look into the new Samsung Blue Earth, which is to be unveiled in a couple days at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.  The phone is green, despite its blue color, and it’s not just the integrated solar panels that make it so. The Blue Earth is made of recycled plastic, features a pedometer, and even software that reaffirms just how much you’re helping the planet by using it. If Al Gore had one of these mobile devices in hand, it would likely explode. (more…)

Shanghai, Feb 12, 2009
Source: JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd press release
http://investors.jasolar.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=208005&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1256176&highlight=

JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq: JASO), a leading manufacturer of high-performance solar products, today announced that it has signed a supply contract with BP Solar International, Inc., pursuant to the broader strategic cooperation agreement signed with BP Alternative Energy Holdings Limited, announced last November.  Under this new agreement, JA Solar will supply monocrystalline and multicrystalline solar cells to BP Solar in 2009, with an initial volume of 175 MW and with the potential to expand to 360 MW. JA Solar is already delivering product under its existing supply agreement with BP. (more…)

By Steve Almasy, CNN, Jan 28, 2009
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/01/28/solar.powered.cars

Toyota’s third-generation Prius, due at dealerships this spring, will have an optional solar panel on its roof. The panel will power a ventilation system that can cool the car without help from the engine, Toyota says.  Solar Electric Vehicles in California makes a roof-mounted solar panel for a standar Toyota Prius.  But it’s a long way from the 2010 Prius to a solar-powered car, experts told CNN. Most agree that there just isn’t enough space on a production car to get full power from solar panels. (more…)

By Ucilia Wang, Greentech Media, February 04, 2009
Source: Seekingalpha.com
http://seekingalpha.com/article/118477-q-cells-subsidiary-scales-up-
micromorph-production-together-with-applied-materials

A Q-Cells (QCLSF.PK) subsidiary that makes micromorph thin-film solar panels is scaling up its production nicely, the company said Tuesday.  Sontor, founded in 2006, started mass production at its German factory last August and rolled out 3.6 megawatts worth of solar panels last year. A solar power plant in Lower Bavaria installed 1.6 megawatts worth of those panels, which are now producing power and hooked up to the grid, the company said. (more…)

By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY, 20 Jan 2009
Source: USA Today.com
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2009-01-19-solar-panel-cars-automakers-prius_N.htm

Even as skies are gray this winter, automakers are looking to sunnier times — not just for more sales, but also to power solar cells going on new cars.  Toyota (TM) just announced that the next-generation Prius will have an optional solar panel that powers an electric fan. The fan activates to cool the cabin when the car is parked and the interior temperature rises.  Fisker Automotive, a start-up based in Irvine, Calif., goes further. The luxury hybrid shown at last week’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit has a large solar panel that supplies extra juice to the battery. (more…)

Toronto, Jan. 23, 2009
Canadian Solar Inc, press release
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=196781&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1247716

Canadian Solar Inc. (“the Company”, “CSI” or “we”) (Nasdaq: CSIQ) today announced that it has donated 5,000 Euros to the Klimaschutz- und Solarforderverein am Gymnasium School in Neutraubling, Germany. The donation will be used to partially finance a 10 kWp rooftop solar project using our CS6A-150 modules. Other donors include students, teachers and alumni, as well as private individuals. The school will in turn use the net proceeds from the project to help fund projects in developing nations. (more…)