Solar Cells Info

Rodney Chan, Taipei, 12 December 2007
Source: DigiTimes
http://www.digitimes.com/bits_chips/a20071212VL202.html

The partnership with equipment supplier Oerlikon is expected to shorten the time thin-film solar cell maker Sunwell Technology will need to begin mass production and to raise yields, according to Robert Wong, chairman of CMC Magnetics, the parent company of the Taiwan-based solar cell maker.  Wong noted that Oerlikon, which supplies Sunwell’s production equipment, has already had experience in mass production for solar cells.  A ceremony was held on December 10 to mark the completion of Sunwell’s solar cell plant in Linkou, northern Taiwan. Sunwell will supply solar cells as well as building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV).
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By Richard Dobson /Additional reporting by Baker Li
Taipei, Dec 6, 2007
Source: Reuters UK
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKTP33777420071206

Soaring oil prices approaching $100 a barrel are fueling a sleek new kind of solar technology that could some day set skyscrapers and high-rise apartment windows quietly buzzing with renewable energy production.  The emerging technology uses thin films mounted on the glass windows of skyscrapers and other surfaces to harness the sun’s power.  It’s more aesthetic and cheaper than the bulkier conventional solar cells made from polycrystalline silicon whose supplies have tightened and prices have risen as solar energy has taken off.
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Hamilton, N.J., Dec. 17, 2007
Source: EPV Solar Inc. press release/Newswire
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/December2007/17/c3821.html

EPV SOLAR, Inc. (formerly Energy Photovoltaics, Inc.), a thin-film solar module manufacturer and technology
developer headquartered in New Jersey, USA, announced today that it has entered into a long-term solar module supply agreement with unlimited energy GmbH, Berlin, Germany.  Under the terms of the contract, EPV SOLAR will supply
306 megawatts (MW) of amorphous silicon modules to unlimited energy for use in the development and build-out of several solar parks in Europe.  EPV will begin shipments against this contract during the first quarter of 2008. Product will initially ship from EPV’s New Jersey locations and shift to EPV’s Senftenberg, Germany, plant scheduled to come online during the fourth quarter of 2008.
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Toyko, Nov 29, 2007
Source: Reuters /Reporting by Yuko Inoue and Mayumi Negishi; Editing by Hugh Lawson
http://www.reuters.com/article/technology-media-telco-SP/idUST35539720071129

Japan’s Sharp Corp (6753.T: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday it would invest 22 billion yen ($200 million) to boost output capacity for thin-film solar cells more than tenfold by October 2008, amid a silicon shortage and rising demand for clean energy.
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by Aled Blake, Western Mail, Dec 18 2007
Source: ICWales
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/business-in-wales/business-news/
2007/12/18/super-thin-solar-film-91466-20262567/

A COMPANY which manufactures next-generation solar technology has signed a research and development agreement with Cardiff University.  Cardiff-based G24i has reached a deal with the university’s school of engineering that will allow it to access the facilities. G24i’s Dye Sensitised Thin Film combines innovative material science and nanotechnology to generate renewable power in a process similar to photosynthesis.
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Albuquerque, NM – December 12, 2007
Source: Emcore Corp. press release
http://www.emcore.com/news/release.php?id=172

EMCORE Corporation (Nasdaq: EMKR – News), a leading provider of compound semiconductor-based components and subsystems for the broadband, fiber optic, satellite, and terrestrial solar power markets, announced today that it has signed a memorandum of understanding for the supply of 60MW of solar power systems that are scheduled for deployment in Ontario, Canada over the next three years.
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By Associated Press December 14, 2007
http://www.fool.com/news/associated-press/2007/12/14/
china-sunergy-to-supply-asola-with-cells.aspx

China Sunergy Co. said Friday it has agreed to supply Asola Advanced and Automotive Solar System GmbH with solar cells worth 10.2 megawatts of annual generating capacity.  Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. China Sunergy will deliver the products during 2008, and both parties will explore further agreements through 2012.
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December 10, 2007
Source: SolidStateTechnology.com
http://sst.pennnet.com/display_article/314319/5/ARTCL/
none/none/1/Japan-Korea-JV-to-make-solar-cell-tool-components/

Japanese semiconductor parts supplier Ferrotec and Korean LCD devicemaker Central Micronics are forming a JV to produce controllers, heated parts, quartz crucibles used to make monocrystalline silicon ingots for solar cell manufacturing, according to the Nikkei daily.
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Toyko, Dec. 15, 2007
Source: Reuters/Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu, editing by Jacqueline Wong
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUST13412120071215

Sharp Corp will spend close to 100 billion yen ($882.9 million) to build the world’s largest solar cell factory in Japan, Chairman Katsuhiko Machida was quoted by the Nikkei business daily as saying.  The plant will be built next to Sharp’s LCD panel factory currently under construction in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture.

It will produce thin-film solar cells, which use less silicon than conventional cells, starting in fiscal 2009, the Nikkei said in its Saturday edition.  The factory is expected to have a production capacity of 1,000 megawatts per year, the largest in the world. The Osaka-based company has an annual output capacity of 710 megawatts.

Sharp first announced plans to build the plant back in July, but had not outlined the investment amount.

Milan, Italy /  September 04, 2007
Source: Applied Materials, Inc, press release /Businesswire
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/appliedmaterials/index.jsp?
newsId=20070903005039

Applied Materials, Inc. today introduced its revolutionary Applied SunFab™ Thin Film Line, the world’s first and only integrated production line for manufacturing thin film silicon solar modules using 5.7 square meter (m2) glass panels. These ultra-large substrates, sized at 2.2m x 2.6m, are four times bigger than today’s largest thin film solar production panels. The Applied SunFab Line defines a new standard for the industry that can be replicated by customers around the globe to rapidly establish solar panel manufacturing capacity and achieve the lowest production cost per watt to drive down the cost of solar electricity.
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