Solar Cells Info

30 November 2006
source: Compoundsemiconductor.net
http://compoundsemiconductor.net/articles/news/10/11/26/1

With a multi-million dollar investment in water management company WorldWater, the compound semiconductor chip manufacturer Emcore shows its intent to move up the terrestrial solar power systems industry chain. In a strategic move that will guarantee a lucrative, exclusive customer supply deal for its solar cell division, III-V device maker Emcore is to invest $18 million in WorldWater and Power Corp.

Based in Pennington, NJ, WorldWater specializes in solar-powered water pump technology. Emcore has already invested $13.5 million, and expects to supply the $4.5 million balance before the end of this year. That will give Emcore a 31 percent equity share in WorldWater, while a separate supply agreement means that Emcore will be its exclusive supplier of high-efficiency multi-junction solar cells, assemblies and concentrator subsystems.

Emcore has valued that contract to be worth “up to” $100 million over the next three years, a figure that ought to deliver a massive boost to Emcore’s photovoltaics business unit. Investors appeared to be keen on the development, with shares in Emcore spiking up more than 15 per cent to nearly $6.50 following the announcement.

As Emcore CEO Reuben Richards noted, the investment marks an important shift in the company’s strategy within the terrestrial solar energy market. “[Emcore] is becoming, with WorldWater, a solution provider rather than just a component supplier.” This movement up the industry food chain has been a feature of Emcore’s wider strategy over the past few years, ever since it sold its MOCVD equipment division to Veeco Instruments in 2003.

Since then, Emcore has sold its RF electronic materials division to epiwafer foundry IQE, and its half-share in LED joint venture Gelcore to General Electric. Via the WorldWater supply deal, Emcore solar cells based on GaAs alloys and germanium substrates will be hooked up to specialized electrical drives that are used to pump water for utility companies and to irrigate farmland.

Richards pointed out that a significant percentage of the world’s electrical consumption is used to run pumps and motors, and sees this as part of a rapidly expanding opportunity for solar energy systems to replace or augment grid electricity. WorldWater has already begun to make an impact in this area, and its annual sales are expected to grow almost ten-fold from $2 million in 2005 to nearly $17 million this year.

WorldWater founder Quentin Kelly, who started up the company as long ago as 1984 to supply water and power to developing nations, said of the deal, “Concentrated photovoltaic systems are the keys to reducing the cost per watt of power generated.” “This major financing will enable [us] to increase our core business of blending and/or replacing the electric grid with solar power…whether in the agricultural, water utility or other industrial fields.”

Excerpts from the article of Clifford Coonan “The greening of China” published in
The New Zealand Herald
http://subs.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10412308

The Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association (CREIA) was set up in 2000 to promote the industrialisation of the use of green energy in China. “Using renewable energy can promote economic development in an environment-friendly way, which would be the key method to balance China’s economic development and its environment protection,” says CREIA secretary-general Li Junfeng. China still has vast coal reserves, but officials are examining the potential of renewable energy to resolve a potential bottleneck to faster economic growth. Experts say the challenges facing China’s environment require a multi-faceted response – wind power in particular is especially suitable for remote, economically underdeveloped regions in China, such as Xinjiang and other barren provinces such as Inner Mongolia.
Meanwhile, CREIA is developing solar energy and biomass energy in several other provinces including Hebei and Jiangsu. Local government in Dunhuang in Gansu province said they would build the world’s biggest solar plant there, a 100-megawatt project costing £400 million. Dunhuang has 3362 hours of sunshine every year, making it a prime spot for solar energy development. The world’s biggest solar plant is at Arnstein near Wuerzburg in southern Germany, with a 12-megawatt capacity.

Friday December 1, 10:30 am ET
Press Release    Source: PrimeStar Solar, Inc. /Yahoo business News
LONGMONT, Colo., Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/

PrimeStar Solar, Inc. announced today that Ken Zweibel, a respected thin film PV R&D program manager from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Solar Program joined the company December 1, 2006 as President and Chairman. “Mr. Zweibel has been instrumental in advancing thin film PV during his 27 years at NREL. He has worked tirelessly to foster collaboration between government labs and industry to develop PV as a cost-competitive solution to the world’s growing energy needs,” said Dr. Brian Murphy, CEO of PrimeStar. “We are very excited to have attracted a solar industry leader of his caliber and experience.”

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Friday, December 1, 2006
source: Honda Press Release
http://world.honda.com/news/2006/c061201HondaSoltec/

TOKYO, Japan, December 1, 2006–Honda Motor Co., Ltd. announced plans to establish a wholly-owned subsidiary, Honda Soltec Co., Ltd., which will produce and sell the next-generation thin film solar cell independently developed by Honda. The new company will lead Honda to make a full-scale entry into the solar cell business.

The next-generation solar cell to be produced and sold by Honda Soltec was developed by Honda Engineering Co., Ltd., the production engineering subsidiary of Honda. By using thin film made from a compound of copper, indium, gallium and selenium (CIGS), Honda’s next-generation solar cell achieves a major reduction in the amount of energy consumed during the manufacturing process by approximately 50% compared to what is required to produce conventional crystal silicon solar cells. This makes the new solar cell more environmentally-friendly by reducing the amount of CO2 generated even from the production stage.

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By Michael Kanellos, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: November 20, 2006, 10:15 AM PT
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6137205.html

The venture arm of equipment maker Applied Materials has invested $3 million into Solaicx, a small company trying to put a dent into the shortage of silicon for solar cells. Solaicx specializes in equipment for making silicon ingots, logs of pure silicon that get heated to high temperatures and then sliced like lunch meats to make silicon wafers. The silicon in the ingots must meet an extraordinarily high level of purity. As a result, producing silicon wafers for the solar industry, which subsequently can be chopped up and processed for solar cells, is a difficult and expensive process.

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Wednesday, November 29, 2006

source: Toledoblade.com
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061129/BUSINESS03/611290407

It’s been a public company less than two weeks, but in that short time span First Solar Inc. – whose entire source of solar panel production is its plant in Perrysburg Township – has been heating up on the Nasdaq market. The company, which has its roots in Toledo but is located in Phoenix now, went began trading stock publicly on Nov. 17 and predicted beforehand the price would start at $17 to $19 a share. However, it opened at $21, closed its first day at $24, and has since hit $29 a share.

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Joint Press Release from Q-Cells AG & Solibro AB

source
http://www.q-cells.com/cmadmin_2_1139_0.html

Thalheim/Wolfen and Uppsala, November 23, 2006

Q-Cells AG is investing in a new photovoltaic technology to complement its current technology portfolio. Q-Cells, the world’s second-largest manufacturer of solar cells, is joining forces with Solibro AB from Uppsala, Sweden, to set up a joint venture under the name of Solibro GmbH, in which Q-Cells will hold a share of 67.5%.

Solibro GmbH will commercialise the copper indium gallium di-selenide (CIGS) thin-film technology developed in Sweden by Solibro AB. For this purpose there are plans to build an
initial factory in Thalheim, which will have an annual production capacity of 25 to 30 MWp. Q-Cells AG will initially pay Solibro AB € 4 million for its 67.5% share and € 20 million against the achievement of technological milestones, and has committed € 60 million to the joint venture. The parties involved are expected to take a decision on the construction of the first production site in Thalheim by mid 2007. The amount of € 60 million will then be invested in this first stage of expansion.

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Tuesday, November 28, 2006
By John J. Fialka, The Wall Street Journal
Article published in post-gazette.com
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06332/741837-28.stm

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Stanford R. Ovshinsky has spent 40 years — and millions of dollars in backing from various partners — pursuing his dream. He wanted to build a huge machine that would make giant sheets of material that can generate solar power. “I said we are going to make it by the mile,” he recalls. “Nobody believed me, not even in my own company.”

Today, Mr. Ovshinsky, 84 years old, finds himself running his factory at full capacity and overwhelmed with orders. His company, Energy Conversion Devices Inc., is the largest U.S.-owned maker of photovoltaic materials, which convert sunlight to electricity. The company is a pioneer in an exploding global industry selling $15 billion a year of what’s called “PV.” The company’s mammoth machine extends the length of a football field. It runs much like a printing press, spooling out thin sheets of the PV material, which can be used on roofs of homes or businesses. As energy costs rise, along with concerns about global warming, PV is in demand.

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Plan under way to build German production facility that will manufacture solar modules based on CIS technology.

Torgau, Germany
Source: RenewableEnergyAccess.com
http://renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=46677

With news headlines around the world reporting on the silicon shortage and its potential impact on the future of the solar industry, two European-based companies are banking that next-generation non-silicon technology will be a cost-competitive — and energy efficient — alternative to silicon solar modules.

Shell Erneuerbare Energien GmbH and Saint-Gobain Glass Deutschland GmbH, recently announced plans to join forces and create AVANCIS — an entity that will develop, produce and market next generation solar technology based on Shell’s advanced Copper-Indium-Selenium (CIS) thin-film deposited on glass. One of the first orders of business for AVANCIS will be to build a manufacturing plant in Torgau, Germany that will produce photovoltaic panels using the CIS technology.

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source: press release SES Solar
www.sessolar.com

GENEVA — (MARKET WIRE) — November 29, 2006

SES Solar Inc. (OTCBB: SESI), a leading European-based developer of cost-effective, high productivity solar panels and solar roof tiles, is pleased to announce that it has received and accepted subscriptions for approximately USD 3.7 million (CHF 4.6 million) relating to a private placement for 4,100,001 common shares of the company at USD 0.90 per share. Proceeds from the financing will be used for the construction of the company´s new state-of-the-art solar panel manufacturing facility in Geneva.

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