Solar Cells Info

Applied Materials to Deliver Europe’s First Production Line for Manufacturing Ultra-Large, Cost-Efficient Solar Panels

SANTA CLARA, Calif. / March 20, 2007
source: Applied Materials/ press release
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/appliedmaterials/index.jsp?epi-content=GENERIC&newsId=20070320005495&ndmHsc=v2*A1167656400000*B1174422807000*C4102491599000*DgroupByDate*J2*N1002992&newsLang=en&beanID=547561197&viewID=news_view

Applied Materials, Inc. has been awarded a milestone contract to provide T-Solar Global S.A. of Spain with Europe’s first thin film solar module production line using ultra-large 5.7m2 (2.2m x 2.6m) glass panels. By scaling to these large-area substrates, the same size used in Generation (Gen) 8.5 flat panel displays, this integrated line can drive down the cost of solar panel manufacturing while doubling rated factory output. For installations such as large commercial rooftops and solar farms — applications that are already growing rapidly as a result of the increased availability of lower-cost thin film solar panels — these ultra-large substrates are expected to enable an additional 25% reduction in the cost of solar electricity.
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Price rise restricts solar power in Sunderban,  report by Maureen Nandini Mitra
Source. Central Chronicle /March  22, 2007
http://www.centralchronicle.com/20070322/2203303.htm

A few years ago, Shaktipada Jena, a small farmer could dream of buying a home solar power system. He’d have to stretch his means to save between Rs 3,100 and Rs 4,800, the going rate. But now prices have gone through the roof and a solar unit is out of his reach. Everyday, as darkness falls, he sees electric lights come on in some of his neighbours’ homes on Ghoramara island, in the Sunderbans archipelago. Meanwhile, his children do their homework by the flickering glow of kerosene lamps and his wife speaks wistfully of tv soaps that she can’t watch.
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Could this landmark plant herald a U.S. boom for utility-scale solar power?
By Gilbert E. Cohen
http://www.solartoday.org/2007/mar_apr07/nevada_solar_one.htm

The 64-megawatt Nevada Solar One concentrating solar power plant, among the largest of its kind to date, is slated for completion in April 2007.   Boulder City, just outside of Las Vegas, has been known as a city of promise since the Depression Era, when workers flocked there to build the legendary Hoover Dam. Today this oasis in the desert is the site of the nation’s newest large-scale renewable energy project, Nevada Solar One.

The 64-megawatt (MW) solar thermal power plant, among the largest of its kind to date, broke ground just one year ago, in March 2006. Nevada Solar One’s groundbreaking came three years after the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada approved a power purchase agreement among utilities Nevada Power Co. and Sierra Pacific Power Co. and project leader Solargenix Energy, now a subsidiary of Spain’s Acciona Group. The utilities will use credits from the solar power plant to meet their obligations under Nevada’s renewable portfolio standard.
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Source: Hindustan Times / OneWorld South Asia
http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/147403/1/1893

Imagine running your computer on a solar energy backup for five hours a day! It’s possible, says an expert who sees India as a promising destination for alternative sources of power.  Terence “Terry” J Hart, vice chairman and technical director of IT Power India Pvt Ltd, sees states like Karnataka and West Bengal ahead in the use of alternative energy. A lot is happening in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu too, and Gujarat is coming up well.
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The First MLB Ballpark to Install a Solar System will Generate Green Energy for PG&E Customers in the City and County of San Francisco

Source: Pacific Gas and Electric Company, press release March 21, 2007
http://www.pge.com/news/news_releases/q1_2007/070321.html

SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco Giants and Pacific Gas and Electric Company today announced a joint partnership to install a solar system at AT&T Park. AT&T Park, the first ballpark in Major League Baseball (MLB) to install a solar system, will provide up to 120 kilowatts of green energy for PG&E customers in the City and County of San Francisco.  “We are thrilled to partner with PG&E to bring green power to San Francisco,” said Peter Magowan, Giants president and managing general partner. “Through this partnership, we hope to raise awareness about the importance of using energy wisely and efficiently and about the need to develop and utilize renewable energy sources.”
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source: Photonics.com
http://www.photonics.com/content/news/2007/March/8/86858.aspx

GOLDEN, Colo., March 8, 2007 — Two scientists at the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) who pioneered the multijunction solar cell have been named Dan David Prize laureates for 2007. Jerry Olson and Sarah Kurtz received their award and two-thirds of the $1 million prize in a ceremony today in Paris.   Olson and Kurtz share the Dan David Prize, endowed by the Dan David Foundation and located at Tel Aviv University in Israel, with NASA climate scientist James Hansen. Olson and Kurtz were selected for their “exceptional and profound contributions to the field of photovoltaic energy,” the prize committee said. Solar cells based on the scientists’ work “have the potential to alleviate the world’s impending energy crisis,” according to the committee.
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By JACOB GREBER, Bloomberg News, March 20, 2007
source: The New York Sun
http://www.nysun.com/article/50810

ZURICH, Switzerland — Bertrand Piccard, who along with his co-pilot became the first to fly around the world in a hot-air balloon, won financial support from Germany’s biggest bank to build a solar-powered aircraft that can fly around the globe. The aircraft, with a wing span of 264 feet, will be able to take off and fly using energy from the sun. Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executiv e Officer Joseph Ackermann said his bank will contribute $12 million of the project’s estimated $82.5 million cost.
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The Next DSC Industrialisation Conference (DSC-IC 2007)

source: DYESOL NEWSLETTER Issue 1. 2007.

Following the successful first Industrialisation of DSC conference last year in Canberra, Australia, Dyesol is pleased to announce that the 2nd DSC Conference will be held in St Gallen, Switzerland, 11- 13 September 2007.  Dyesol is a Platinum Sponsor for the NanoEurope Fair and Conference and will host the 2nd DSC Conference in conjunction with NanoEurope.

The conference will bring together scientists, technologists, engineers, industrialists, investors and others interested in the development of DSC technologies. Very much aligned with the significantly increased DSC development efforts worldwide, the key objective of this 2nd DSC-IC is to strengthen the DSC community at large and to assist the numerous DSC commercialization programs in particular.

Prof Andreas Luzzi, President of Dyesol Group company Greatcell Solar and professor and director of the Institut für Solartechnik, will be conference chairman. Eminent invited speakers will come from Japan, China, Korea, USA, SE Asia and throughout Europe. As well as the lectures on advances in DSC wordwide and opportunities for networking, there will be site visits to EPFL and the Institut für Solartechnik SPF Rapperswil.

It is our great pleasure to invite you to attend the 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE on the INDUSTRIALISATION of DSC (DSC-IC 2007), in the beautiful, world heritage listed city of St.Gallen, Switzerland.

To register your interest to attend and for further information please go to:
www.dyesol.com/conference/

source: Myiris.com
http://www.myiris.com/newsCentre/newsPopup.php?fileR=20070322081532121

Tata Power, subsidiary Tata BP Solar India, provider of solar power systems, announced an USD 100 million expansion plan, to be implemented over 18 months, reports Mint. The investment aims at, doubling the manufacturing capacity of solar photovoltaic cells at its Bangalore plant. Tata BP Solar India, a 51:49 JV between BP Solar and Tata Power, (Q, N,C,F)* commenced its commercial operations in 1991. The joint venture has invested USD 25 million in India.
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Nuying Huang, Taipei; Rodney Chan, DigiTimes.com /21 March 2007
http://www.digitimes.com/bits_chips/a20070321PD208.html

China-based Suntech Power has become the world’s third largest solar cell supplier following Japan-based Sharp and Germany-based Q-Cells, according a Suntech executive. Suntech’s solar cell shipments totaled 150MW in 2006, and total output for 2007 is expected at 270-280MW, Steven Chan, vice president of business development at Suntech, said during a Merrill Lynch seminar.
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