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Industry newsIndustry newsContinued from page 7SunShot Initiative: U.S. DOEawards USD 112 million to neworganizations to advance PVmanufacturingOn April 5th, 2011 the U.S. Departmentof Energy (DOE) announced that it willaward USD 112 million in funding tonewly formed organizations to advancesolar photovoltaic-related manufacturingprocesses throughout the United States,as part of its SunShot Initiative. SunShotAdvanced Manufacturing Partnershipswere awarded to the U.S. PhotovoltaicManufacturing Consortium, the Bay AreaPV Consortium and SVTC Technologies.www.energy.gov/sunshotNew solar module manufacturingplant opens in OntarioSilfab Ontario’s new, fully automatedMississauga manufacturing facility officiallyopens April 18th. The facility isgeared to ramp up to an annual productionof 180 MW solar modules. Theceremony, attended by the HonourableSandra Pupatello, Minister of EconomicDevelopment and Trade, Her WorshipHazel McCallion, the Mayor of Missauga,and other dignitaries as well as 250 industryguests from Ontario and Italy, also celebrated30 years of outstanding photovoltaicachivements of Silfab Ontario’s presidentand CEO Franco Traverso. www.silfab.caPROINSO opens office in GermanyPROINSO has opened a new office in thecity of Munich from which it seeks to furtherstrengthen its presence in the Germanmarket. The company will have a local,highly qualified professional team who arewell experienced in the sector. The delegationwill be led by Erik Woerman. In 2010,the company supplied modules, inverters,trackers and fixed structures in Germanytotaling a turnover of 52 million euros.www.proinso.netEmerson partners with Sanmina-SCIto build solar power inverters forCanadian marketEmerson is entering into a partnershipwith Sanmina-SCI to build innovativeEmerson solar power inverters at Sanmina-SCI’s Ottawa, Ontario, manufacturingfacility. This will enable Emerson to fulfillOntario’s requirement that technologiesused in renewable energy projects be builtin that province. www.Emerson.com, www.sanmina-sci.comGlobal thin film PV market worth$19,422 million in 2015The low cost and optimum efficiency ofthin film photovoltaic cells is driving thegrowth of the thin film PV in overall PVmarket. The global thin film PV marketis expected to grow from $3,406 millionin 2009 to $19,422 million in 2015, at anestimated CAGR of 32.2 percent from2010 to 2015, according to a recent reportfrom MarketsandMarkets, Thin Film PV-Advanced Technologies and Global Market(2008-2015). On the other hand, CIS/CIGSare expected to grow with a maximumCAGR of 43.9 percent from 2010 to 2015.www.marketsandmarkets.comHyundai-Avancis breaks ground fornew CIGS thin film solar moduleplantHyundai-Avancis held a ground-breakingceremony for Korea’s largest copper,indium, gallium, diselenide (CIGS)thin-film solar module plant. Heldin Ochang Foreign Investment Zone,Chungcheongbuk-do, the ceremony wasattended by Saint-Gobain chairman &CEO Pierre-André de Chalendar, HyundaiHeavy chairman Min Keh-sik, and 250government officials and business people.Saint-Gobain and ‘green’ energy providerHyundai Heavy each have invested KRW110 billion in Hyundai-Avancis, bringingthe total investment in the joint ventureto KRW 220 billion ($200m). Hyundai-Avancis plans to complete the high efficencyPV module plant by January 2012and start production from second-half ofthe same year. www.avancis.de/enU.S. Department of Energy awardsfunding to CNSE CIGS Solar ProjectThe U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)announced a $57 million award toThe College of Nanoscale Science andEngineering (CNSE) at the State Universityof New York at Albany as part of its SunShotAdvanced PV Manufacturing PartnershipsProgram. Veeco Instruments Inc., a providerof equipment for the solar industry,has become a key partner for CNSE onthis project as part of the U.S. PhotovoltaicConsortium The DOE’s SunShot Initiativeaims to reduce the total costs of photovoltaicsolar energy systems by about 75percent so that CIGS (Copper, Indium,Gallium, Selenide) solar is cost competitivewith other forms of energy by the end ofthe decade. www.veeco.comOPEL Solar International directorresignsDavid Slomka, director of OPEL SolarInternational Inc., has resigned from hispost for personal reasons. Slomka, whoresigned on April 30th, served on the boardsince June 2007 and was also the chairmanof the Compensation Committee. Theboard intends to fill the vacancy thus createdat the next scheduled Board Meeting.The board remains committed to its goalof increasing long-term shareholder value.The board continues to be confident in thecompany’s strategy for both its solar businessthat includes greater vertical integration,development of its brownfields initiativeand its burgeoning solar systemsrollout in North America and China and itsPlanar Optoelectronic Technology (POET)device development program.PSERC awarded $5.5 million tomap a new trajectory for the energysystem gridThe Power Systems Energy Research Center(PSERC) has been awarded a $5.5 milliongrant from the Department of Energy toinvestigate requirements for a systematictransformation of today’s electric grid. Thefuture grid needs to support high penetrationsof highly variable distributedenergy resources mixed with large centralgeneration sources, energy storage, andresponsive users equipped with embeddedintelligence and automation. Vijay Vittal,director of PSERC and Ira A. Fulton Chairin Electrical Engineering at Arizona StateUniversity, is leading a multidisciplinary,multi-university team to investigate thesechallenges and to seek solutions to achievethe needed transformation. www.pserc.orgBTU International appoints JackAntounian director of operationsBTU International,Inc. announces theappointment ofJack Antounian asdirector of operations.Antouniancomes to BTU withan impressive backgroundin operations,including LEAN Sigma and DFXexpertise. He is also a two-time recipient ofthe Shingo prize for operational excellence.Prior to joining BTU, Antounian was vicepresident of operations at SEEGRID, a producerof vision-guided, industrial mobilerobots. www.btu.com36 – Global Solar Technology – June 2011 www.globalsolartechnology.com