A new production line for SolarEdge Technologies photovoltaic inverters opened earlier this month at the Flextronics facility in Newmarket, Ontario. Systems manufactured at the plant will meet the domestic content requirements of the Canadian province's feed-in tariff programs and will also be exported to other customers in North America.
PVJapan 2011 has been rescheduled from its original July dates to December 5-7. Event sponsors SEMI and the Japanese Photovoltaic Energy Association decided to postpone the show because of the ongoing recovery efforts in the wake of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami and at the request of Japanese government agencies to help conserve energy resources during the summer months.
A 1MW concentrator photovoltaic power plant built on six acres of land formerly reserved for baby pistachio trees has been activated and is providing electricity to the Southern California Edison regional grid in Central California. The site, which features SolFocus CPV systems, is located on the Nichols Farms property in Hanford. Sol Orchard developed the project, with Bechtel Power providing the engineering, procurement, and construction expertise.
Malaysian conglomerate Scientex and Japanese materials supplier Mitsui Chemicals Tohcello (MCTI) have signed a joint-venture agreement to manufacture and distribute ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) encapsulating materials for PV modules and other applications. A new company will be formed, MCTI Scientex Solar, in which each party holds a 50% equity interest.
Hanwha Holdings (USA) has established Hanwha Solar America LLC as a U.S. subsidiary, which will set up an advanced photovoltaic technology research and development center in Silicon Valley. Industry veteran Chris Eberspacher has been named president of HSA and will also serve as global CTO of Hanwha’s various solar businesses.
Crystalline-silicon thin-film PV company Ampulse has ordered a cell process development tool from Roth & Rau MicroSystem. The system, scheduled for delivery in the first half of this year, will be installed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Process Development and Integration Laboratory in Golden, CO.
First Solar has selected the location of its second manufacturing center in the United States, and it’s a short drive from the company’s Tempe, AZ, headquarters. A 135-acre site in Mesa that once hosted a General Motors vehicle testing facility will see the creation of a cadmium-telluride thin-film PV module factory, a $300 million capital investment which will feature four production lines and be suitable for future expansion.
As expected, the Italian cabinet signed off on a solar policy without a 8GW annual cap, but did institute a 1MW cap on farmland projects. Under the new policy, projects are required to be connected to the grid before May 31 to benefit from the current feed-in tarrifs. Any new FiT decision for projects beyond May would likely be made by April 30, according to published reports.
Manz Automation will break ground later this week on a new production, technology, and training facility in Suzhou, China. The factory will manufacture equipment for the photovoltaics, FPD, and PCB industries, with 50% devoted to solar tools, said company executives during a press conference held in conjunction with the SNEC trade show in Shanghai. The building will be finished by the end of this year, with production machinery installed early next year and the initial production ramp planned for February 2012.
CIGS thin-film photovoltaics manufacturer SoloPower has received a conditional commitment for a $197 million loan guarantee from the US. Department of Energy Loan Programs office. The company said the funds will support construction of a flexible thin-film module manufacturing facility in Wilsonville, OR, that, when completed and at full capacity, is expected to have an annual capacity of approximately 400MW.
