Solar Cells Info

Source: Construction and Maintenance News
http://home.nestor.minsk.by/build/news/2007/03/1513.html

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District, SMUD, and Lennar Homes have signed an agreement that represents the largest solar new homes partnership in the United States. The agreement will bring more than 1,200 high-efficient solar homes to the area. Solar photovoltaic systems will be built into 1,254 new homes in 11 communities in the SMUD service territory. The first 506 homes will be constructed in the new Anatolia subdivision of Rancho Cordova and 79 new homes will be built in the Village Greens community of Natomas. Groundbreaking is planned for March.
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Roxana Orellana /The Salt Lake Tribune, March 12, 2007
Source. The Salt Lake Tribune
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5415859

KEARNS – Energy generated since January at Entheos Academy is enough to power nine homes for a day or operate a television for more than 3,000 hours.  That’s thanks to the recent installation of 12 solar panels in the roof of the first-year charter school at 4710 W. 6200 South. “We want to get students thinking about [renewable energy] and get them excited,” said Brian Smith, manager of Renewable Synergy LLC, which designed and installed the panels.  Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky renewable energy program awarded $37,500 to pay for the project after approving Smith’s funding request.
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Source: BuilderOnline /Business Wire /March 12, 2007
http://www.builderonline.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=26&articleID=456365

Harvard Communities, Inc., one of Colorado’s most respected semi-custom homebuilders, announced that all Architect Collection homes in the Stapleton redevelopment will now come with photovoltaic (PV) solar power as a standard feature. Called the “Harvard Solar Advantage,” the initiative is the first announced by any semi-custom homebuilder in Colorado.  For Architect Collection homeowners, the solar PV panels will provide approximately 30% of their home’s electrical power needs. The solar PV system will integrate seamlessly with the home’s electrical service, allowing excess power produced to be sold back to the utility company. When this happens, the electric meter spins backwards to provide retail credit for the electricity the solar home produced. At night or during cloudy weather, the home pulls power from the grid as normal, thereby spinning the meter forward again. Additionally, the Harvard Solar Advantage initiative, combined with the energy-efficient home building measures already being incorporated, will result in the reduction of over 7,000 pounds of excess carbon dioxide — 3.5 tons – per Architect Collection home annually.
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Solar technologies are rapidly becoming a major focus worldwide as a sustainable energy source: and the Masdar Initiative, Abu Dhabi’s landmark program in sustainable energy, is driving the adoption of advanced solar technologies here in the UAE.

* United Arab Emirates:  January 31 – 2007 * PRESS RELEASE
Source: AME info.com
http://www.ameinfo.com/109358.html

Projects already in active development in Abu Dhabi include both photovoltaics (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP), providing Masdar with broad coverage of the solar sector. Masdar’s PV projects in development include a world-scale polysilicon factory in Abu Dhabi, which will provide the feedstock for additional activities such as PV cell and module manufacturing. Photovoltaics allow the direct conversion of sunlight into electricity – this is one of the most promising technologies in renewable energy. The global PV industry was estimated at 2 gigawatts (GW) in 2006 and is growing at 30% annually, making it one of the most attractive and high-growth international industries.
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posted on 02/03/2007
Source: UAE interact.com
http://www.uaeinteract.com/news/default.asp?ID=231#24217

Abu Dhabi, which holds the Middle East’s fourth-largest gas reserves, plans to build a US$380 million (Dh1,395m) solar energy plant in the desert as the UAE’s electricity demand outstrips its gasfuelled power supplies. The project will be the first of its kind in the Gulf, Sultan Al Jaber, Chief Executive Officer of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, said in an interview. Bids to build the 100 megawatt plant will be sought by August, he said.
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8 March 2007
source_ UAE Interact.com
http://www.uaeinteract.com/news/default.asp?ID=231

The first solar powered car designed and created by an Emirati is currently on display in Dubai and has been drawing crowds intrigued by its sleek flat shape. The solar two-seater car can reach a maximum speed of 50km/h but is better suited to cruising at 45km/h, according to its creator Saqr Bin Saif, 30. The car will be displayed at the Emirates Towers Boulevard today and will later be moved to Wafi City mall.
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source: Applied Materials Inc. / press release
http://www.appliedmaterials.com/

SANTA CLARA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Applied Materials, Inc., the global leader in nanomanufacturing technology™ solutions for the electronics industry, announced today that it will install over 1.9 megawatts of solar power generation capability at its research campus in Sunnyvale, California. This is believed to be the largest solar power installation on an existing corporate facility in the United States and will be rolled out in three phases.
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By Hadi DP Mahmud
Source: Brunei Times /Brunei Direct.com
http://www.brudirect.com/DailyInfo/News/Archive/Mar07/090307/nite11.htm

Bandar Seri Begawan – Brunei can be entirely independent from oil for its electricity supply under an ambitious plan to use environment-friendly solar technology to power up 100 per cent of the sultanate by 2015. Nations Solar Technologies plans to build, own and operate a solar cluster project in the sultanate with the assistance of Hamidjojo Development and its consortium, which have been appointed to do a feasibility study on the project in six months.   The project, which will start on January 1, 2008, aims to put forward a proposal and obtain necessary approvals, licenses and support from the government to reach 100 per cent solar energy capability for Brunei by 2015.
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Sylvestre Tetchiada 3/9/2007
Source: FInancial Express
http://www.financialexpress-bd.com/index3.asp?cnd=3/9/2007&section_id=4&newsid=54858

For Merline Momo Azeufac, a teacher at Balefock village in western Cameroon, the days of fearing nightfall while correcting pupils’ work are over. She’s no longer hostage to the poor light provided by kerosene lamps.
“I always had sore eyes, and also a headache because of the smoke,” Azeufac told IPS. “Imagine that I used to correct about a hundred exercise books in bad lighting conditions…But this hasn’t been a problem since we had solar power.”

At the end of 2006, Balefock received four solar panels to produce power, under a grant from the Rural Entrepreneurship Foundation (REF). This non-governmental organisation (NGO), based in the Cameroonian capital of Yaoundé, was responding to a request from the Balefock Public School Parents’ Association.
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First-ever solar-powered salmon fishery will be operating this summer at Lummi Island in Anchorage
Laine Welch,  March 10, 2007
Source: Anchorage Daily News
http://www.adn.com/money/story/8699195p-8599623c.html

The first-ever solar-powered salmon fishery will be operating this summer at Lummi Island, home to the world’s only remaining reefnet fishery. It’s located at the northeast tip of the San Juan archipelago in Washington state, near Bellingham.  Reefnetting is perhaps the oldest form of net fishing in the world. Called “the original and still the best in selective fishing” by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, it was done centuries ago by Native Americans using cedar canoes and cedar nets.
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