On 29 November 2008, Professor Dr. Adolf Goetzberger, the founder of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, ISE turned 80 years old. In 1976, Goetzberger was well-known semiconductor expert and head of a research institute with 180 employees, but in 1981, he decided to head out on his own and start the Fraunhofer ISE with only 18 employees. Today the ISE has grown to employee more than 800 people for the advancement of solar energy.
With Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp and local community leaders looking on, FPL broke ground on its 75MW Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center, the world’s first hybrid solar energy plant and first utility-scale solar facility in Florida. It is the first hybrid solar facility to combine a solar-thermal field with a combined-cycle natural gas power plant.
EPV Solar Germany GmbH has produced its first amorphous silicon thin-film modules at its Senftenberg, Germany factory. Commercial volumes of the thin-film solar modules will be available for sale in January 2009. The facility has a 30MW capacity, equal to 500,000 55W modules per year that will be used in large solar parks and PV arrays in Germany and southern Europe.
When the New South Wales (NSW) Minister for Climate Change, Carmel Tebbutt, was asked what the government was doing to promote renewable energy, she confirmed the speculation that the NSW government would be introducing a solar feed-in tariff. Tebbutt claimed that it would be a way to abide by the mandatory renewable energy target of 20% energy from renewable sources by 2020.
EPV Solar, Inc. announced that its 30,000 square foot, 20MW facility is Robbinsville, NJ, US is producing and shipping thin-film amorphous silicon solar modules. The company moved its corporate offices to Robbinsville in the beginning of 2007 and shortly thereafter began renovating the space for the new plant. In June 2008, EPV started equipment installation at the site with all systems being in production by October 2008.
COLEXON Energy AG and Renewagy A/S publicized plans for a merger between the companies. The merger is dependent on the approval of the shareholders’ annual meetings in 2009, but is expected to be effective on 1 January 2009. Renewagy will merge onto COLEXON, which will simultaneously assume the European legal entity of a Societas Europea (SE) and change the company name to COLEXON SE. Shares of the company will be traded in the regulated market.
Sharp Corporation and Enel SpA, Italy’s largest power company, are to set up a joint venture in the spring of 2009 which will operate as an independent power producer developing PV power plants with a total capacity of 189MW by the end of 2012.The various power plants will be set up in southern Italy using thin-film solar cells.
During the “American Solar Boom? Cutting Through the Hype” teleconference held by AltaTerra Research Network and presented by EuPD Research, over 30 solar PV consultants, manufacturers, developers and installers heard that executives from the solar industry are split down the middle on how the financial crisis will affect their companies’ revenues in 2009. Half the executives polled said that they do expect the financial crisis to negatively affect their revenues, while the other half responded that they do not expect it to have a negative impact.
Eights months after 3S Swiss Solar Systems first entered into business with semi-automatic production lines, it has delivered its first line to the Alicante-based Eurener Energia Solar, which had previously been operating with the manual 3S production line since 2006. Eurener has installed a semi-automatic 20MW line, which includes an automatic string soldering station from Somont, a laminating line from 3S and a module tester from Pasan.
EMCORE Corporation has deployed its first concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) system in China in collaboration with XinaAo, one of the country’s largest energy companies. Owing to the two companies’ earlier agreement, the 50kW test and evaluation system is fully installed, operational and producing power in accordance with specifications.
