The Minister for Environment and Climate Change in Victoria, Australia, has announced a AUS$3 million investment in solar cell R&D technology development in Melbourne. The venture is a direct result of collaboration between Swinburne University of Technology and China's Suntech Power Holdings. The Victoria-Suntech Advanced Solar Facility at Swinburne has been established through a grant of $3 million from Victoria's Science Agenda Investment Fund.
The government of Western Australia has finalized the long-awaited feed-in tariff. Energy minister Peter Collier has announced State Budget funding of AUS$23million to introduce the residential net feed-in tariff scheme, providing a subsidy to householders with new and existing photovoltaic, wind and micro-hydro systems. The scheme, which will pay out over a period of 10 years, will open for applications from July 1, with payments to be made from August 1.
Suntech has received official certification under the UK Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) for its modules. The British Board of Agreement (BBA) certifies that Suntech's modules meet or exceed relevant standards for sales in the UK.
Solar Thin Films has completed its acquisition of 100% of the issued and outstanding share of Atlantis Solar and will retain Atlantis as a wholly owned subsidiary. Atlantis is led by James Molinaro, who is the former head of Akrion Systems.
Astronergy, also known as Chint Solar, has selected Munich Re, a reinsurance company, to cover its crystalline silicon PV modules for the 25-year warranty on its solar panels.
Shelby, North Carolina is a home to the newest completed solar project by Duke Energy Generation Systems (DEGS) and SunPower. The 1MW solar project began construction in March and is currently producing energy for the North Carolina Municipal Power Agency Number 1 (NCMPA1) – serving Shelby, NC.
CSA Group and the VDE Testing and Certification Institute have signed a reciprocal testing services agreement for PV modules, which includes working with Fraunhofer USA and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems for a new solar technology facility in the US Southwest. The agreement is immediately effective and hopes to enable the organizations to test products to current applicable standards.
(Updated) Victor Valley College and SolFocus have officially opened the college's CPV solar power plant, a 1MW (AC) system located in the high desert northeast of Los Angeles that is said to be the largest of its kind in North America. The system will produce approximately 2.6 million kilowatt-hours annually, contributing 30% toward the college's electricity demand. The six-acre site, located on the college's main campus in Victorville, consists of 122 SolFocus SF-1100S dual-axis-tracking 8.4KW CPV arrays, featuring 3416 panels incorporating tens of thousands of III-V concentrator-cell assemblies supplied by Boeing Spectrolab.
Meyer Burger has successfully won a contract worth more than CHF30 million for the supply of high-tech wire saws with a customer in Asia. The equipment will work towards ensuring a best in class wafering process.
Intersolar has announced its nominees for the title of “most innovative solar companies of 2010”. The awards will be handed out at the company’s June exhibition in categories such as: photovoltaics, solar thermal technology and, the newest category, PV production technology.
