Solar Cells Info

By Peter J. Howe, Boston Globe Staff / December 14, 2007
Source. Boston Globe/
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/12/14/
state_to_launch_68m_solar_panel_program/

Governor Deval Patrick’s administration is launching a $68 million program today to increase the number of solar electric panels on Massachusetts homes, businesses, and schools by 600 percent over the next four years.  Patrick’s plan, which does not involve new taxes or fees, seeks to greatly simplify the process for people and businesses to get funding for promoting green power, including solar. The plan includes special incentives for buying Massachusetts-made solar panels and extra aid targeted at lower-income homeowners.
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Auburn Hills, Mi, Oct 05, 2007
Source: Ovonic / press release /PRNewswire

United Solar Ovonic LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (Nasdaq: ENER), announced today that it has signed a multi-year supply agreement with Enfinity Management BVBA for 21.15 MW of UNI-SOLAR(R) thin-film photovoltaic (PV) laminates. Under the agreement, United Solar will supply Enfinity 1.15MW in calendar year 2007 and 10MW in each of the calendar years 2008 and 2009. Enfinity intends to use the UNI-SOLAR(R) products for roof-top installations in Europe.
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London, UK and Los Angeles, California, November 15, 2007
Source: Ovonics press release

Solar Integrated Technologies, Inc. (AIM:SIT.LN), a leading provider of building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) roofing systems, announced today that it has won a U.S.$6.6 million order for a BIPV roofing system to be owned and operated by Akuo Energy, a rewewable energy project developer. The BIPV system will be installed at a logistics facility currently under construction in Southern France. The BIPV project is being managed by Urbasolar, a turn-key PV engineering company based in Montpellier, which is an authorised distributor and partner of Solar Integrated in France. The project, planned for completion in 2008, is expected to be the largest BIPV roofing system in France. (more…)

Leader in solar schools installations brings program to sites across California
Pasadena, CA, Dec. 4, 2007
Source: PRNewswire.com
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/12-04-2007/0004716934

Leading solar service provider SolarCity today announced at the Green California Schools Summit that the company plans to connect 100 solar learning station installations through the Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s “Solar Schools Program,” greatly inspiring renewable energy awareness in educational centers across the state.

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1 Megawatt Solar Array, One of the Largest On the West Coast, Will Provide Clean, Efficient and Lower Cost Power Operations
Roseville, CA, Dec 10, 2007
Source: NCPA press release/ Businesswire.com
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/index.jsp?epi-content=GENERIC&newsId=20071210006086

Northern California Power Agency (NCPA), located in Roseville, CA and SPG Solar, located in San Rafael, CA today announced that they will join forces to build one of the largest solar arrays on the West Coast, near the City of Clearlake. The 1 megawatt single-axis solar tracking system will provide renewable energy to an existing pump station that supplies the NCPA Geysers Geothermal Energy Plant near Middletown, CA. The array will be used to collect solar power to pump wastewater into the geysers, which is in turn used to generate renewable geothermal power. The photovoltaic array will start generating clean renewable power beginning in September 2008.
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320 Panels Will Deliver 80,574 Kilowatt Hours of Electricity Each Year
CYPRESS, CA,Dec 13, 2007
Source: BusinessWire.com
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/index.jsp?epi-content=GENERIC&newsId=20071213005379

Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA, Inc. has been selected to provide photovoltaic (PV) panels for the San Francisco Food Bank’s 55,000 sq.-ft. warehouse. The San Francisco Food Bank is one of the nation’s largest, distributing more than 28 million pounds of food to low-income families, individuals and 500 non-profit organizations each year.
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Solar Power, Inc. to Design and Install Photovoltaic Systems for Multiple Locations Across California
ROSEVILLE, CA,   December 10, 2007
Source. Businesswire
http://www.businesswire.com/

Solar Power, Inc. (“SPI”) (OTCBB:SOPW) has entered into an agreement with Solar Power Partners, Inc. a California-based renewable energy company specializing in Power Purchase Agreements (“PPAs”) as a vehicle for financing commercial installations of large-scale photovoltaic (“PV”) solar electric energy systems. “Our agreement with Solar Power Partners, Inc. and the systems we will be designing and installing for their customer are significant for a number of reasons,” said Steve Kircher, CEO of SPI. “Solar Power Partners’ customer is a major national retailer that has successfully tested and is now converting its retail facilities to photovoltaic solar electricity. It demonstrates the growing adoption of PV solar systems by businesses as a means to contain operating expenses in the face of rising energy costs.”
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Energy savings will allow for more food to feed area hungry
Washihngton, Dec. 12, 2007
Source: BP America /PRNews press release
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/071212/nyw068.html?.v=101

BP America and the Capital Area Food Bank (CAFB) today announced a $1 million donation of BP Solar panels and other equipment that will make CAFB’s proposed new facility a local showcase of the latest solar technology. The solar system, which will be capable of generating 121.8 kW of clean electricity, will save more than 20 percent of CAFB’s annual electricity bill.  The CAFB is the largest public nonprofit, hunger and nutrition education resource in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. Each year, the CAFB distributes 20 million pounds of food, including 6 million pounds of fresh produce through more than 700 member agencies. The energy saved by the solar installation will not only reduce the environmental footprint of the building, but also will result in economic savings that can be used to secure more food to feed the area’s hungry.
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by Katharine Grayson Staff Writer, December 10, 2007
Source: Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2007/12/10/daily9.html?surround=lfn

The city of Minneapolis will receive a $2 million grant to build an array of 3,000 solar panels atop the roof of a public-works building. The solar array will be the largest of its kind built in an urban area in the Upper Midwest, the city said Monday in a press statement. Funding for the project will come from the Xcel Energy Renewable Development Fund.
The city said the solar array might help it expand its fleet of 28 plug-in hybrid vehicles. In May, Minneapolis-based Xcel (NYSE: XEL) announced it would put up to $23 million toward renewable-energy projects. The state requires that the utility set aside $16 million for its renewable-energy fund. The city already has three solar arrays up and running.

By Matt Nauman, Mercury News, Nov 14, 2007
Source: MercuryNews.com
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_7462532?nclick_check=1

Low-income homeowners in California might soon have access to a $108 million fund to put solar panels on their roofs, but an advocacy group for the poor questions the effectiveness of a program that doesn’t pay for all the cost of the installations. The issue comes up for a vote at the Friday meeting of the state’s Public Utilities Commission in San Francisco.  The program, part of California’s Solar Initiative, will provide full subsidies for one kilowatt solar-energy systems to single-family, owner-occupied households that qualify as “extremely” or “very low income” – those making up to 50 percent of an area’s median income. A PUC spokeswoman said this could range from $25,750 for a four-person household in Fresno County to $56,550 for the same size household in San Francisco County.
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