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Industry News packages that include severance payments. All other liabilities will also be paid off. CentroSolar’s new, larger module plant in Wismar, Germany, with a module production capacity of currently 110 MWp is unaffected by the closure of the Dutch plant. www.centrosolar.com Malibu opens thin film manufacturing plant Delivering a major step forward in sustainable solar power, Malibu today launched the world’s first thin-film solar module factory that completely eliminates the use of nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), a greenhouse gas with a significant global warming potential, from the manufacturing process. Malibu is a joint venture between energy company E.ON, one of the world’s largest energy producers, and Schüco, a major worldwide provider of building envelope systems. Working in close collaboration with researchers from technology provider Linde Gases, a division of The Linde Group, scientists at Malibu’s development centre in Bielefeld, Germany, have developed an improved cleaning process using on-site generated fluorine (F2) made with Linde’s patented technology. As a result, the carbon payback time—the time it takes the use of solar panels to offset the environmental impact of their manufacture—is reduced by up to one year. This improved process will now be rolled out to their new 40MW production facility in Osterweddingen, Germany. www. malibu-solar.de, www.linde.com Spire to use Rudolph Technologies’ process control software in its turnkey solar cell lines Spire Corporation will include Rudolph’s Discover Solar yield analysis and process management software as part of their turnkey manufacturing product lines. “Rudolph’s Discover Solar Software provides all the process information to our solar cell production lines. It will allow our customers to bring new lines up to profitable yields and volumes even faster than they can now,” said Dr. Avishai Kepten, vice president of Solar Cell Lines of Spire Corporation. “Customers will be able to achieve higher average cell efficiencies and reduce manufacturing costs. Discover Solar software will give our customers a competitive edge.” www.rudolphtech.com, www.spirecorp.com Asola unveils new module assembly plant Asola (Asola Advanced and Automotive Solar Systems GmbH) has unveiled a new state-of-the-art facility that will produce crystalline silicon solar photovoltaic modules for the global markets. The new facility is located in Erfurt, the capital city of Thuringia, and is the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany. Asola’s new facility currently employs 100 workers and is expected to employ up to 130 by the end of the year. The initial production rate will be 32 MW of PV modules annually, and is expected to expand to 45 MW by the end of the year. www.asola-power.com Sixtron’s SunBox wins International Solar Technology Award During a ceremony held at Intersolar 2009 in Munich, Germany, the Sixtron SunBox, an efficient silane-free system for applying anti-reflective coatings, was awarded the Cell Award for Best Process Technology in Crystalline Silicon Cell Manufacturing. The Cell Awards are judged by a consortium of the solar industry’s leading companies and research organizations, including Q-Cells, Suntech Power and Fraunhofer ISE, and recognize products with the most potential to lower the cost of solar technology. www.sixtron.com Indian government working on massive solar energy plan A draft Indian government plan, obtained by Greenpeace, outlines plans for a national target of 20 Gigawatts of solar generation capacity by 2020. The massive green plan is a clear example of how developing countries are acting on climate change, while in the industrialised world, the EU and the US are still struggling with their reduction targets, and delaying concrete financial support needed by developing countries for clean energy. OTB Solar installs first silicon-ink inkjet system at Innovalight Innovalight, Inc., a privately-held firm developing silicon-ink printed solar cell technology, has installed the world’s first high-throughput industrial silicon-ink inkjet printing system at the company’s headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. The printing system was engineered and manufactured by OTB Solar in co-operation with Innovalight. Using high precision touch-less inkjet printing of silicon-ink, Innovalight can halve the number of costly manufacturing steps required to produce high efficiency solar cells. In addition, the OTB printing system allows for high volume production of ultra-thin crystalline silicon solar cells with thicknesses as little as 50 microns. www.innovalight.com, www.otb-solar.com New partners found for solar cell manufacturing plant With the support of the Portuguese state, Centrosolar’s negotiations with financing banks and a new partner for the planned cell plant located near Porto (Portugal) have been brought to a successful conclusion. This clears the way for the transfer of a 51% interest from Qimonda to the new investor. The continuation of Itarion Solar and the development of the new plant are thus assured. The opening of the first solar cell plant in Portugal is scheduled for the first quarter of 2010. The new partner is a consortium comprising the Portuguese energy group Energias de Portugal (EDP), the state investment company Inovcapital, the banks Banco Espírito Santo, Banco Comercial Português and Banco Privado Atlântico, as well as the project developer DST Renováveis and the Visabeira Group, which is active in infrastructure industries. A technology team with ample experience in semiconductor manufacturing and photovoltaic, recruited in part from the former joint venture partner Qimonda, has already been set up since the start of the year. This experienced technology team and the superior cost positions means that Itarion represents an attractive investment for all parties concerned. The Centrosolar Group will be able to meet approximately one-third of its demand for solar cells through Itarion, on attractive terms. The company will also be able to absorb cyclical fluctuations in the market much more easily, in particular providing greater planning certainty for the rapidly growing area of project business for large commercial roof systems. www.centrosolar.de SunPower signs module assembly agreement with Jabil Circuit SunPower Corporation has signed a multiyear solar panel manufacturing agreement with Jabil Circuit, Inc., to build panels for SunPower’s North American solar market. Jabil will begin manufacturing panels for SunPower in Mexico in the second half of 2009. The company is also continuing to evaluate establishing localized manufacturing facilities in large solar markets in the U.S. Separately, Jabil will collaborate with SunPower in the company’s participation in the Solar America Initiative (SAI), a U.S. Department of Energy effort to accelerate the development of advanced solar energy technologies. SunPower has 36 – Global Solar Technology – July/August 2009 www.globalsolartechnology.com
Industry News participated in the initiative since September 2007. SunPower and Jabil intend to evaluate establishing world-class panel and system manufacturing locations in the U.S., which would result in the creation of highly skilled jobs. www.sunpowercorp.com, www.jabil.com MicroScreen receives ITAR Registration MicroScreen LLC has received their official International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) registration from the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Political- Military Affairs. ITAR Registration means that MicroScreen is uniquely positioned to fully support defense related projects in the United States. www.microscreen.org Oerlikon Solar tops VLSI Research list of solar equipment providers Oerlikon Solar, a supplier of thin film silicon photovoltaic (PV) production equipment, announced that VLSI listed it the number one solar turnkey line supplier globally. Oerlikon Solar maintained a comfortable lead in 2008 among solar turnkey manufacturing line providers in rankings released by VLSI Research. www.oerlikon.com Yingli Green Energy and Recurrent Energy sign sales agreement Yingli Green Energy and Recurrent Energy have entered into a strategic sales agreement under which Yingli Green Energy has agreed to supply Recurrent Energy with crystalline PV modules through 2012 for expected use in Recurrent Energy’s distributed solar projects, typically ranging from 2 to 20 MW, in the U.S., Canada, Europe and other emerging markets. www.yinglisolar.com, www.recurrentenergy.com Ascent Solar Technologies selected for Solar America Initiative Pre-Incubator program Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., a developer manufacturer of state of the art flexible thin-film solar modules, has been selected for negotiations for a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Photovoltaic (PV) Technology Pre- Incubator project award. The new subcontract from DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) represents approximately $315,000 of subcontract value over a 12-month period, pending negotiations. The proposed effort involves using a zinc-magnesium-oxide (ZnMgO) deposited by Ascent’s proprietary process in order to replace the standard window layer of a copper-indium-gallium-(di)selenide (CIGS) device, and eventually, replacing all the top layers of the device. Use of ZnMgO could potentially improve the performance and reduce the cost of AST’s CIGS product, as well as provide another piece of the puzzle towards developing the next generation of CIGS products. www.AscentSolar.com Energy Conversion Devices extends supply agreement with EnergyPeak Energy Conversion Devices has extended its supply agreement with EnergyPeak. EnergyPeak expects to continue its aggressive growth rate and purchase up to 12MW of UNI-SOLAR® laminates from ECD through the end of 2011. These laminates will be incorporated into building-integrated photovoltaic systems on standing seam metal commercial roofs. www.ovonic.com, www.centria.com Suntech CTO receives William R. Cherry Award for outstanding achievements in PV technology PV module manufacturer Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd., announced that its chief technology officer, Dr. Stuart Wenham, received the William R. Cherry award at the 34th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (“PVSC”) held in Philadelphia, PA, this past June. The William R. Cherry award recognizes engineers and scientists who have significantly advanced the technology of photovoltaic energy conversion. Dr. Wenham has helped lead the development effort at the University of New South Wales’ ARC Photovoltaics Centre of Excellence on solar technology, which has set world records for solar conversion efficiencies. Dr. Wenham has also played a leading role in the development of Suntech’s new Pluto technology, which routinely produces PV cells with conversion efficiencies of approximately 19% on mono-crystalline cells and 17% on multicrystalline cells. Suntech anticipates ongoing enhancement of the Pluto technology and anticipates achieving 20% conversion efficiency on monocrystalline PV cells and 18% on polycrystalline PV cells within the next 2 years. www.34pvsc.org, www.suntech-power.com SunPower’s Dr. Richard Swanson named recipient of SEIA Industry Innovator Award At the PV America conference on June 8, 2009, Dr. Richard Swanson, president and chief technical officer of SunPower Corporation, was honored with a SEIA Industry Innovation Award. He was recognized for his outstanding achievements in the development of SunPower’s high-efficiency, all-back contact solar cell. Swanson is one of the world’s mostrecognized leaders in the advancement of photovoltaics (PV) and a pioneer in commercializing cost-effective PV power systems. In 2006, he was honored with the prestigious Becquerel Prize for Outstanding Merits in Photovoltaics and in 2002, Swanson was presented with the William R. Cherry Award by the IEEE for outstanding contributions to the photovoltaic field. www.sunpowercorp.com Christopher Associates to distribute Orient photovoltaic encapsulation laminators Christopher Associates has been granted exclusive distribution rights for North America by Orient Science & Technology Co. Ltd. (Qinhuangdao, China) for their complete line of vacuum lamination and encapsulation systems for photovoltaic module manufacturing. www.christopherweb. com Nozik wins UN science and technology prize for solar research Senior Research Fellow Arthur J. Nozik of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory has won the 2009 Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Organization (IREO) Award for Science and Technology. IREO is a new international organization related to the United Nations. The IREO/UN award recognizes energy innovators who are “leading the way of global development through renewable energy, with the strength to challenge conventional wisdom and encourage critical thinking.” Dr. Nozik and his NREL colleagues have proposed and confirmed several new important concepts in photoelectrochemistry and solar photoconversion that may help revolutionize advanced solar energy research. He and his research colleagues specialize in working with semiconductor nanocrystals, such as silicon and other semiconducting materials a billionth of a meter in size—also known as quantum dots. They operate in a much larger portion of the light spectrum than what is used by conventional photovoltaic cells and can produce several electrons from one absorbed photon of sunlight. This process, known as multiple exciton generation (MEG), has the potential to markedly increase the efficiency of solar cells. www.ireoigo.org, www.nrel.gov www.globalsolartechnology.com Global Solar Technology – July/August 2009 – 37
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