Silicon Genesis Corporation (SiGen) and NorSun AS have endorsed an equipment development and supply agreement. NorSun will assess SiGen’s PolyMax “kerf-free” substrate samples and work together in optimizing the high-volume manufacturing equipment design that can process silicon ingots into kerf-free wafers of 150?m thickness and below. Their new agreement also contains commercial terms for the supply of HVM production equipment to NorSun.
Eyelit, Inc., a manufacturing software provider for visibility, control and coordination of manufacturing operations for the aerospace and defense, discrete electronics, semiconductor and photovoltaic penal industries, released revenues for its first nine months of 2008. It recorded a two times increase in its third quarter revenue, the highest third quarter revenue recorded in company history.
Sunovia Energy Technologies, Inc. and EPIR Technologies, Inc. have successfully demonstrated the optical down-conversion for increased solar cell energy efficiency. This proves to be a significant advancement for the maximization of solar cell efficiency and will play a distinctive role in the commercialization of the companies high-efficiency solar cells. Dr. Jacqueline Johnson completed the optical down-conversion during her employment at EPIR, under the direction of Dr. Paul E. Hausgen, for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate program.
Oerlikon Solar said it was now able to produce a-Si thin film modules with than 7% stabilized efficiency, enabling a 16% increase in panel power output. Its new ‘Amorph High Performance’ process uses a specially developed Zinc Oxide TCO layer, which Oerlikon Solar claims, significantly increases the performance characteristics of the panel through better light trapping properties. The company said that it had already been granted the requisite master certificates from TÜV.
GT Solar’s order backlog in its just posted second quarter financial results topped $292 million, resulting in its total order backlog exceeding $1.4 billion, up from $1.26 billion at the end of the first quarter. GT Solar also shipped more than 200 DSS furnaces to the solar market with many orders shipped ahead of schedule due to customer demand, the company said.
Panasonic Corporation and Sanyo Electric have started formal discussions that could lead to Panasonic acquiring Sanyo. A possible deal could be concluded by the end of December, 2008, the companies stated. The companies claimed that direct synergies between the two companies meant that the deal was highly likely.
SolFocus has been awarded a contract worth $103 million to supply more than 10MW of its CPV modules to EMPE Solar for project to be deployed in Spain through 2010. According to the company, the new project will be the the largest deployment of CPV technology in Europe, and will be capable of meeting the domestic energy requirements for a city of approximately 40,000 residents. SolFocus recently completed two utility-scale CPV projects (3MW total) for the Institute of Concentration Photovoltaic Systems (ISFOC) in Spain.
Nabeel Gareeb, President and Chief Executive Officer of MEMC resigned his executive position and seat on the Board of the major polysilicon supplier to the semiconductor and photovoltaics industries. Gareeb will assist in a transition through the end of 2008, while Board member Marshall Turner will serve as interim CEO, effective November 12, 2008. The search for a permanent replacement for Gareeb will be conducted during this period.
At a two day event held in Atlantis, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai, Mr. Sultan bin Sulayem, Chairman of Dubai World (pictured), announced the establishment of a photovoltaics manufacturing company, dubbed Solar Technologies FZE, which will build and operate a 130MW production plant in Dubai’s Technopark. Future plans include establishing manufacturing facilities in China, Mexico and Bulgaria, which will increase the total production capacity to 1GW by 2015.
Nitrogen trifluoride used in semiconductor, thin film solar and other electronics manufacturing has been found to be in greater quantities in the atmosphere than previously estimated and is increasing at about 11 percent per annum, according to new research using new analytical techniques, NASA said.
