Solar Cells Info

Xinhua News:  December 18, 2006

Beijing, Dec 18 (Xinhua) China has devised a cost-effective solar energy bathing scheme for its population in the countryside where statistics show that 200 million out of China’s 800 million rural people bathe only once a month. Now energy experts have devised a bathing scheme aimed at introducing China’s rural population to the joys of a hot bath.

Tens of millions of Chinese population were found to bathe only once every quarter or every six months, leading to a high number of diseases, which resulted from bad hygiene. The problem is especially acute in Chinese villages where some farmers and herdsmen do not bathe for a whole lifetime because of poverty and lack of facilities.

Solar energy is being promoted in China’s countryside as an alternative to inefficient and polluting gas stoves. The stoves rely on the burning of low-quality briquette that contains sulfur dioxide and other poisonous elements, which can harm human health and environment.

A solar energy bathing scheme set up by the Shandong-based Huangming Solar Energy Group and Yijianeng Solar Energy Company brought the idea of regular bathing to Zhuangke village in Dezhou city, Shandong province, last winter. For a fee of one yuan (about 12.5 US cents) per head and 1.5 yuan (about 18.75 cents) in winter, more than 1,000 villagers can bathe in a village bathhouse.

More than 100 solar energy bathhouses have been set up in Dezhou. Experts said more than 150 million Chinese people are using solar energy water heaters. A public fund for solar energy development has been managed by the Huangming Group and Yijianeng company and they have invested eight million yuan ($1 million) in the construction of solar energy bathhouses in China’s rural areas.

By Helen Marshall /21st December 2006
Source: Energy Business News
http://www.energy-business-review.com/article_news.asp?guid=FC9CD843-250B-4FE3-A18F-6830EBA9D88D

The European Commission has authorized €76 million of aid, which the German government intends to grant to Conergy over three years to construct a new production plant for solar energy modules in Frankfurt (Oder). The project, which will be spread over three years (from 2006 to 2008), is aimed at producing solar energy modules that make it possible, as the main part of an integrated solar energy system, to convert sunlight into electricity.

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Editor:Lu Yuying / December 12, 2006
Source: Xinhuanet
http://www.cctv.com/program/bizchina/20061222/100329.shtml

BEIJING, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) — Trina Solar Limited has become the second Chinese solar energy firm to have its shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The solar power product manufacturer has raised nearly 98.1 million US dollars from its initial public offering of 5,300,000 American Depository Shares (ADS). The ADSs, each representing 100 ordinary shares of Trina Solar, began trading on Tuesday, with their prices opened at 26 U.S. dollars, up 40.5 percent from the IPO price. A total of 5.3 million shares were sold for 98 million US dollars on its debut trading.

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First solar shop opens in city – 50 more such shops in the pipeline

Express News Service, December 21, 2006
Source: Express India
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=214150

WITH the opening of the first exclusive solar equipment showroom in the city by TATA BP Solar India Limited, Lucknowites can now have a clean, silent, non-polluting and reliable energy source. Around 50 such shops will be opening shortly in the state. The equipments are lightweight, user-friendly and easy to connect and the product range includes solar cells, solar street lights, solar home lighting system, solar lanterns, road studs, solar water-heating system and lots more.

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German Regulatory Authorities Approve EverQ Partnership Agreements
Source: Press release Evergreen Solar
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=123321&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=944431&highlight=

MARLBORO, Mass.; THALHEIM, SAXONY-ANHALT, Germany & HOVIK, Norway–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Dec. 21, 2006

Evergreen Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: ESLR), Q-Cells AG (FSE: QCE) and Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (OSEAX: REC.OL) (REC) today announced that regulatory authorities in Germany have approved previously announced partnership agreements that make the companies equal partners in EverQ, which manufactures solar modules in Thalheim, Germany. Effective December 19, 2006, all three partners will share equally in the net income generated by EverQ.

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Instant insight: Nanohighway to solar cells

19 December 2006
Source: Chemical Technology of Royal Society of Chemistry, UK http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/ChemTech/Volume/2007/01/hiroshi_imahori.asp

Hiroshi Imahori of Kyoto University, Japan, discusses electrophoresis as a means to make molecular highways for organic solar cells.

The shortage of fossil fuels and the degradation of the global environment has focused research attention on solar cells, which can convert sustainable solar energy into electricity. However, the cost of electricity from inorganic solar cells (silicon-based photovoltaics) is presently much higher than that generated by hydroelectric power and nuclear or fossil fuels. Therefore, it is necessary to develop low-cost solar cells with high power conversion efficiencies Eta). Organic solar cells would be promising candidates if they fulfil their potential, especially as they bear unique advantages over inorganic solar cells as they are flexible, lightweight and colorful.

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New compact concentrating solar panels “Heliotubes” are cheaper than conventional solar panels
Source:  New Scientist, 9/12/2006, issue 2581 p.32
Duncan Graham-Rowe

A solar panel designed to cut the cost of harnessing the sun’s energy will go on the market next year. Its trick is to focus sunlight that strikes the entire panel onto far smaller slabs of the pricey material that turns light into electrical energy.

Called Heliotubes, the panels are designed to improve on today’s solar concentrators, which use sun-tracking dishes to collect sunlight. These dishes need space in which to move, so they occupy twice the area of flat panels that gather the same amount of light. This rules them out for sites like rooftops where space is limited. They also need an external power source to keep them pointed at the sun.
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Dow Diamond Solar powers at work: When the sun warms Dow Diamond and makes fans long for hot dogs and the words “play ball,” the light from the sky will power the stadium’s scoreboard.

By Cheryl Wade, 9 December 2006
source:
http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17570557&
Dow Corning Corp. and Hemlock Semiconductor Corp. have teamed up to donate 168 solar panels, located outside the right field fence and adjacent to the outfield parking lot, which are designed to generate enough energy to operate the stadium’s scoreboard. Representatives from both companies showed off the panels — mounted 30 inches above the ground to be above the snow line — to local media on Friday, which was cold but sunny. Hemlock Semiconductor makes the polycrystalline silicon that is the main component of the panels, and Dow Corning makes protective coatings for the panels.
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Solar EnerTech Announces Beta Release of Power Conditioning Software and Applauds US Federal Solar Energy Tax Credit Extension to 2008

December 18, 2006

Source: press release/Solar EnerTech Corp.
http://www.solarenertech.com/News/release.asp?numb=216

Solar EnerTech Corp. (OTCBB: SOEN) (the Company) wishes to advise that while participating at a renewable energy symposium in Beijing, Management warmly welcomed the recently passed legislation enacted by the US 109th Congress last week which is expected to significantly benefit the Company’s upcoming sales and marketing efforts. The act extends the 30% solar energy investment tax credit for homeowners and businesses for one additional year, through to the end of 2008.
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Freiberg wafer production to double capacity to 500 MW
Dec 21, 2006
Source: Solarworld AG /ad hoc annoucement
http://www.solarworld.de/sw-eng/presse-adhoc/index.php

SolarWorld AG will consistently continue its group-wide course of expansion after the integration of the crystalline solar activities of the Shell Group. Against the background of the strong international expansion of the group business the solar technology group will now further expand its capacity for the production of modern and highly efficient solar silicon wafers at the Freiberg location from the current 250 Megawatt (MW) within the next 28 months to 500 MW. 50 per cent of this volume has already been sold until 2018 by way of long-term supply contracts with the international solar cell industry. The other half will go into the group’s internal value creation process. The solar silicon needed for the production of the 500 MW of solar wafers is secured by way of long-term delivery agreements with leading international silicon producers, the establishment of its own silicon factories and its Freiberg recycling facility.

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