Solar Cells Info

Proprietary panels designed to provide higher electricity output per rooftop and significantly reduced installation costs.
Solyndra announces more than $1.2 billion in customer contracts.
Fremont, CA, October 7, 2008
Source: Solyndra Inc, press release
http://www.solyndra.com/News/Press-Release-01

Solyndra, Inc. today announced a new solar photovoltaic (PV) system for the commercial rooftop market. Solyndra’s PV system is designed to generate significantly more solar electricity on an annual basis from typical low-slope commercial rooftops with lower installation costs than conventional PV flat panel technologies. Commercial rooftops represent a vast, underutilized resource and huge opportunity for generating solar electricity. Since its founding in 2005, Solyndra has been developing technology and ramping manufacturing capacity to produce its proprietary CIGS-based thin film PV system. Solyndra is currently shipping its systems, comprised of panels and mounting hardware, to fulfill more than $1.2 billion of multi-year contracts with customers in Europe and the United States. (more…)

Source: BusinessWorld /October 17,2008
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW101708/content.php?id=046

STATE-RUN Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) has entered the second phase of its solar project by buying the remaining P25 million photovoltaic inventory of Shell Solar Philippines in a bid to provide electricity to far-flung areas not covered by electric cooperatives and distribution utilities.  The company has completed the first phase of its Solar Homes Systems (SHS) project, having installed 15,100 solar home systems in off-grid villages. (more…)

Consortium of Deutsche Bank AG, Solarparc AG and Spanish Partners
Source: SolarWorld AG press release/DGAP /October 2, 2008

Together with a consortium of Deutsche Bank AG, the Spanish ecoEnergias and  Solarparc AG the SolarWorld Group created a 30 Megawatt (MW) solar park in the Autonomous Community of Extremadura in the Southwest of Spain. The solar power plant located in the vicinity of the two towns of Mérida and Don Alvaro possesses a double axis tracking system to track the sun which makes it one of the largest solar projects of its kind internationally. (more…)

15 MW Power Plant Connected to the Grid in South Korea
Source: SolarWorld AG press release/ Oct 15, 2008 /DGAP
http://www.dgap.de/link.php?von=19970101&typ=news∈=DE0005108401
&sprache=en&a=10&v=en&id=342710

On behalf of its South Korean partner SolarPark Engineering Co. Ltd. the SolarWorld Group has equipped the largest solar park ever built in Asia with solar power technology. For the 15 MW (Megawatt) power plant located 350 km to the South of Seoul in Gochang in the province of Jeollabukdo the internationally leading solar technology group supplied a total of 85,000 solar modules. The connection to the power grid in South Korea is taking place today. It provides the occasion for an opening ceremony that a large number of high ranking Korean politicians, among them State President Lee Myung-Bak, are expected to attend. The Gochang solar park covers an area of 380,000 square meters and will generate 23.5 million Kilowatt hours of electricity per year. This is enough to supply 25,000 Koreans completely with environmentally friendly solar power. At the same time the emission of 15,400 tons of carbon dioxide per year is avoided. (more…)

Source: ABC News, Mon Oct 13, 2008
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/13/2388882.htm

A company is planning to build a $70 million solar cell factory in Canberra which could generate more than 100 jobs.  Spark Solar Australia hopes to build the factory next year with sites in Hume and Mitchell being considered. The company has also listed possible sites in Queanbeyan and Wollongong. The factory will produce solar cells used in the manufacture of solar panels. (more…)

Mochau, August 18, 2008
Source: Signet Solar, press release
http://www.signetsolar.com/in%20the%20news/index.htm

The first thin-film modules made by Signet Solar are awaiting installation in Hohenlauft in the Rural District of Doebeln as from October 2008. The Rural District of Doebeln is currently setting up a free-space solar plant in Hohenlauft near Doebeln at the total cost of Euro 1.6 million. Upon its completion in November 2008, it is expected to have a capacity of 250 kW. Both crystalline and thin-film modules are going to be installed. Signet Solar, a manufacturer of thin-film solar modules, is supplying this project with 1,580 modules of a total capacity of 130 kWp to be installed in Hohenlauft from October 2008. (more…)

By Simon Clark, Sept. 24, 2008
Source: Bloomberg.com
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aESker8lE5B4

As the sun rises over Seville in southern Spain, its blinding light bounces on a field of 624 mirrors surrounded by sunflowers.  The moving mirrors reflect sunbeams onto a 115-meter-high white tower that uses the concentrated heat to boil water, making steam that spins an electric turbine 97 times a second. This is Europe’s first commercial solar-thermal-electricity plant, at the forefront of a growing movement for green power. (more…)

by Andy Stone, Sept 24, 2008
Source: Forbes.com
http://www.forbes.com/home/2008/09/24/
solar-tax-credit-tech-science-cz_as_0924solar.html

Solar-generated electricity, long decried as too expensive to be practical, may have gotten a little closer to being competitive. The Senate on Tuesday approved its version of a bill that would extend income tax credits for the solar industry through 2016. The Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 would extend the 30% tax credit, which is due to expire at the end of the year, on the upfront cost of solar installations. With the 30% credit, solar cells can produce electricity for as little as 20 cents per kilowatt hour on residential rooftops, putting the cost of solar juice on par with grid electricity in states like California, where energy costs are high. The tax credit would be extended for commercial and utility-scale solar projects as well. (more…)

Silicon Valley, CA, Sept 19, 2008
Source: Sunpower Corp. press release
http://investors.sunpowercorp.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=335603

Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT) and SunPower Corporation (Nasdaq: SPWR) today announced completion of two SunPower solar power systems totaling 2.1 megawatts at Applied Materials’ corporate facilities in Sunnyvale, Calif. The systems represent the largest solar power deployment at a corporate facility in the United States.  “This is another exciting milestone in the adoption of solar power in California,” said Mike Splinter, president and chief executive officer of Applied Materials. “More companies are realizing the wisdom of integrating solar as a non-intrusive, clean, silent form of energy generation into our businesses and communities. We’ve converted our parking lots to power plants and we encourage others to join us in making solar power a meaningful part of the energy supply.” (more…)

Ontario, CA and San Jose, CA, Sept 24, 2008
Source: PRNewswire/SunPower Corp. press release
http://investors.sunpowercorp.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=336440

Toyota and SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR) , a manufacturer of high-efficiency solar cells, solar panels and solar systems, today announced the completion of the largest single-roof solar power installation in North America. The 2.3-megawatt SunPower system will begin operation in early October at Toyota’s North America Parts Center California (NAPCC) in Ontario, Calif.

Toyota expects the solar installation will provide nearly 60 percent of the total electricity needs for the 760,000-square foot NAPCC. The system covers more than 242,000 square feet of the NAPCC’s roof and includes 10,417 solar modules, enough to cover more than four football fields. It is expected to avoid about 6.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions annually, which is the equivalent to the emissions from the energy use of approximately 255 homes in a year. (more…)