Solar Cells Info

Panos (London) /Yolandi Groenewald / 7 March 2008
Source. AllAfrica.com
http://allafrica.com/stories/200803070276.html

South Africa, Brazil and other emerging economies are likely to face emissions caps come 2012. Can South Africa’s solar energy ventures compete with its vast supply of cheap coal?  Stretched-out plains with dust devils and unrelenting sun are the trademarks of the barren Northern Cape in South Africa. Every year the province records some of the highest numbers of sunny days worldwide. Rainy days are as rare as hen’s teeth.
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Los Angeles, CA, March 6, 2008
Source: Reuters.com
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssFinancialServicesAndRealEstateNews/idUSN0565006420080306

Power plant builder and operator MMA Renewable Ventures, on Wednesday said it will build a solar electric system in Arizona to power a thin-film solar plant for manufacturer Global Solar.  MMA will finance a 750-kilowatt facility, which will power Global Solar’s Tucson, Arizona manufacturing plant. Global Solar agreed to buy electricity from MMA for 25 years.
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Tokyo,  Feb 27, 2008
Source: Reuters.com
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/idUST7784620080227

Japan’s Sharp Corp., which aims to become the world’s biggest maker of solar cells, is looking abroad to raise annual output of thin-film solar cells by sixfold to 6,000 megawatts after 2012 and beat silicon shortages.  Sharp aims to raise its annual thin-film solar cell production capacity “as soon as possible” after a planned new plant in Osaka, western Japan goes online by March 2010 with eventual output of 1,000 MW per year, Toshishige Hamano, corporate senior executive director, said on Wednesday.
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New York, Mar. 5, 2008
Source: Associated Press/CNNMoney.com
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/AFX-0013-23555617.htm

Makers of thin-film solar products are under pressure to increase efficiency levels if polysilicon costs fall as predicted in coming years.  Thin-film products have a leg up on silicon-based solar panels because they are relatively cheap. That’s because they are largely isolated from skyrocketing silicon costs, which have been propelled by surging demand in recent years.
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by AER Staff on Monday 25 February 2008
Source: Alternative Energy Resource AER
http://www.aer-online.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.1317

In what is believed to be a European first, Ireland’s Ulster Bank announced plans to test a “solar mortgage” for customers seeking to buy and install solar panels.  QSWeek.com reports the Northern Irish wing of the Dublin-based bank will offer 50% discounts over three years on the bank’s variable rate for customers interested in obtaining photovoltaic technology for their homes. While other banks have created programs designed to provide funding for renewable energy installations, this is the first to specifically target solar projects.
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Albequerque, NM, USA, 4 March 2008
Source. Schott Solar AG press release
http://www.schott.com/english/news/press.html?NID=2269

PV Modules and receivers for Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) Plants / Opening in 2009 with 350 jobs / Plans call for investment to grow to $500 million and workforce to expand to 1,500.

Executives from SCHOTT AG of Mainz, Germany, Governor Bill Richardson (D – NM) and local dignitaries ceremonially broke ground today for the company’s new manufacturing facility for SCHOTT Solar, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of SCHOTT. The site, located in the Mesa del Sol region of Albuquerque, NM, will produce both photovoltaic (PV) modules and receivers for concentrated solar thermal power plants (CSP). Production is expected to begin as early as spring 2009.
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By Sheba Ali /New Univ.org /Feb 11, 2008
http://www.newuniversity.org/checkDB.php?id=6536

The University of California, as reiterated in the Policy on Sustainable Practices dated March 2007, is committed to “minimizing the university’s impact on the environment and reducing … dependence on non-renewable energy.”  UC Irvine has undertaken many “green” initiatives in adhering to the UC system goals, as well as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Executive Order (#3-4-05), which sets 2020 as the next deadline by which time greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced to 1990 levels. (more…)

Source: Datamonitor /RedOrbit.com /3 March 2008
http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1278195/
ascent_solar_to_cooperate_with_itochu_in_solar_sector/

Photovoltaic solutions provider Ascent Solar Technologies and Japanese trading firm Itochu have announced that they will work towards the development of strategic co-operation relationships in various areas.  The areas of interest include procurement of select machinery for Ascent Solar’s planned 100MW manufacturing facility, sourcing of raw materials used for the manufacture of solar modules, distribution of Ascent Solar future products in Japan and other parts of the world where Itochu is currently pursuing a number of solar installations.
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By Emily Masamitsu /March 6, 2008
Source: Popular Mechanics.com
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/earth/4253464.html
Konarka has developed its affordable Power Plastic film with several manufacturing techniques, from an early proprietary printing process to a new breakthrough with inkjet printers that should dramatically reduce costs, with applications including sensors and RFID. (more…)

Deventer, The Netherlands /March 7, 2008
Source: Business Wire/Yahoo biz.com
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080307/20080307005581.html?.v=1

GiraSolar, Inc, an internationally operating American-Dutch solar energy company, today announced that its subsidiary GiraSolar Turkey Ltd. exhibits at the first Turkish national solar energy technologies fair and exhibition.
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