Solar Cells Info

Ayoki Onyango. Nairobi, 31 October 2007
Source: AllAfrica.com
http://allafrica.com/stories/200710310998.html

Installation of solar panels in homes is on the rise following the recent rise in oil prices, which has led to an increase in the cost of electricity. Not only is electricity expensive due to a fuel surcharge, but there have also been numerous and unexplained power disconnections, particularly in Nairobi. This has caused a surge in demand for fuel-powered generators, and a growing interest in solar energy. (more…)

Taipei, Oct 25, 2007
Source: Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/
idUSTP13084720071025

Taiwan’s E-Ton Solar (3452.TWO: Quote, Profile, Research) has joined with Lite-On Technology Corp (2301.TW: Quote, Profile, Research), Hermes-Epitek Corp. and MiTAC-SYNNEX Group to establish a firm to make thin-film solar cells, the company said late on Thursday.  E-Ton and photovoltaic parts maker Lite-On will be the largest shareholders with 23.9 percent each in the company, which will have an initial capacity of up to 60 megawatts (MW) and have the manufacturing facilities fully installed by the end of 2008, the company said in an e-mail statement.
(more…)

By Gerard Wynn, Reuters, London, Oct 31, 2007
http://uk.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/
idUKL24158364._CH_.242020071031

A surge in investment in solar power is bringing down costs of the alternative energy source, but affordability problems still dog hopes for the 1.6 billion people worldwide without electricity.  The sun supplies only a tiny fraction — less than one tenth of 1 percent — of mankind’s energy needs. But its supporters believe a solar era may be dawning, boosted by western funding to combat oil “addiction” and climate change.
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By using reclaimed silicon, solar cell manufacturers can save between 30% and 90% of the energy they would have expended using new silicon materials, IBM said.

By Paul McDougall, InformationWeek, October 30, 2007
Source: InformationWeek
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?
articleID=202800164&subSection=All+Stories

IBM says it’s found an earth-friendly way to recycle the silicon wafers used in its computer chip manufacturing operations — it’s helping to turn them into solar panels.  To recycle the wafers, IBM is using a process that removes transistor patterns embedded in them. The patterns usually prevent silicon wafers from being reused along with other silicon products because they represent closely guarded intellectual property.  As a result, the tech industry discards about three million silicon wafers per year, IBM estimated.
(more…)

Cologne, November 02 2007
Source: iol.co.za
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=31
&art_id=nw20071102183510928C547928

Hail and lightning rain down, while temperatures up to 85°C prevail, as solar cells are tested at the world’s largest and most modern facility in Cologne.  Solar cells are big business across the world, but particularly in Germany and Japan. And here is where the world’s top manufacturers come to have their products certified under the most extreme conditions.

“We are the leading force, and what we introduce in the way of safety ideas is often adopted by other countries,” says Wilhelm Vaassen, head of the Testing Laboratory for Photo-Voltaics of the quasi-official German Technical Monitoring Association (TUEV).
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Technische Universitat Darmstadt of Germany Takes Top Honors
San Jose, CA., Oct 22, 2007
Source: SunPower Corp. / press release
http://investors.sunpowercorp.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=270358

SunPower Corp. (Nasdaq: SPWR), a Silicon Valley-based manufacturer of high-efficiency solar cells, solar panels and solar systems, today announced that the team of students from Technische Universitat Darmstadt of Germany has won the 2007 Solar Decathlon, by building a house powered by SunPower’s high-efficiency solar panels. This marks the second consecutive Solar Decathlon where SunPower’s solar panels were used by the competition’s winning team. SunPower solar panels also powered the Decathlon’s third place winner, Santa Clara University from Calif. (more…)

By Vicki Vaughan, San Antonio Express-News /Oct 13, 2007
Source: Star Telegram.com
http://www.star-telegram.com/business/story/266770.html

Texas has been a leader in energy for 100 years, but the state isn’t moving forward quickly enough to develop solar energy, two experts said Thursday.  “California, New Jersey, Colorado and Pennsylvania are moving more quickly than Texas” in developing solar power, said Bruce Kellison, associate director of the IC2 Institute, a think tank at the University of Texas at Austin devoted to fostering entrepreneurship and job creation.  “Greater development of solar power can bolster Texas’ weakening semiconductor and materials industries” and create jobs, Kellison said.
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Oct 15, 2007
Source: EMSnow.com
http://www.emsnow.com/npps/story.cfm?id=29577&pg=story

Wafer Works Corp. and Sino-American Silicon Products, Inc., both of which supply polycrystalline silicon to solar-cell makers, recently forecast at a photovoltaic forum in Taipei that their revenues to likely keep surging until 2010. Until last month, Sino-American and Wafer Works have seen their monthly revenue set new high for 26 and 19 consecutive months,
respectively.
(more…)

October 16, 2007
Source. Gizmag.com /from ecoGizmo
http://www.gizmag.com/go/8181/

The 2007 Panasonic World Solar Challenge kicks off this Sunday October 21. An established platform for the promotion and development of sustainable energy in transport, the biennial race runs for seven days and covers a distance of 3000 km (nearly 1900 miles) from Darwin to Adelaide in Australia. This year 40 teams from across the globe will compete including the Avivasolarcar, a vehicle capable of achieving speeds of up to 75kmh (47mph) while emitting no carbon dioxide and using less electricity than is generated by a toaster.
(more…)

The sun’s energy helps provide power for the harvest. Owners save electricity costs and do their part for the planet.
Source: The Associated Press, October 13, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-solarwine13oct13,1,4064494.story?
coll=la-mininav-business&ctrack=1&cset=true

Clusters of harvest-ready grapes, pendulous and purple, dangle among deep green leaves at Frog’s Leap winery in Rutherford, Calif., waiting to become Napa Valley wine. But a few rows over is a plant of a different kind — an array of square-faced solar panels that provide the power to keep operations humming. Winemakers in Napa Valley and elsewhere are bottling sunshine in more ways than one this year. (more…)