Xcel Energy and SunPower are working together to build a 17 MW PV solar plant in Colorado. The plant is expected to be finished 2010, and will be the second-largest high-efficiency solar PV power plant in North America. SunPower’s Tracker system will be utilized to increase power generation from the plant.
In a company press release, leaders from both companies commented on the announcement:
We believe that solar power generation will play an increasingly … Read the rest
General Electric has laid off 85 workers at its solar panel plant in Newark, New Jersey, a workforce cut of about 30 percent. The plant also reduced production to a single shift. The layoffs were the result of the global economic credit crisis, which has made it more difficult for GE’s customers to get credit for solar projects.
In an article on Delaware Online, GE Energy Spokesman Tom Rumsey commented on the layoffs, saying
"It’s … Read the rest
Canadian Solar just announced that it won a bid on a project to provide solar panels for 80,000 solar home systems in rural China. In total, Canadian Solar will supply 1.6 MW worth of panels. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of this month.
Dr. Shawn Qu, President and CEO of Canadian Solar, commented on the project in a company press release:
"We were very pleased to win this bid. … Read the rest
Applied Materials just announced that one of its largest clients has reduced the amount of their order for its Sunfab thin-film solar product by 85%. In March of last year, Applied Materials announced that they had received a $1.9 billion order from a nameless company, but as the global crisis has deepened, that order has been reduced to $250 million.
In an article published by Reuters, Gary Hsueh, an analyst for Oppenheimer, commented on the … Read the rest
Suntech just announced a research partnership with Swinburne University in Australia. Suntech’s CEO, Dr. Zhengrong Shi, and Swinburne’s Centre for Micro-Photonics Director, Professor Min Gu, will work together to develop more efficient "next generation" solar cells. To fund the project, the University will contribute 43 million worth of funding and Suntech will contribute another $3 million.
In an article from PV-Tech.org, Professor Gu described the potential benefits of the research:
… Read the restThe project will be based
Vestas Wind Systems just announced that it has received turbine orders from Romania and Italy. The Italian order consists of 37 V90-2MW wind turbines to be installed in Sardinia for EDF Energies Nouvelles. Here are the details of the order, from Power Engineering International:
… Read the restThe contract includes supply, installation and commissioning of the turbines and a five-year service agreement. The wind turbines will be delivered to a project in the municipality of Bonorva in
First Solar just finished gobbling up OptiSolar’s PV project pipeline on Friday. The company plans to take the projects in the pipeline, build them and then sell them.
Renewable-Energy-Sources.com has the details of the deal:
First Solar acquired all of OptiSolar’s project development business in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $400 million. As a result of the closing today, First Solar will issue approximately 3 million shares of common stock representing a dilution of … Read the rest
Earth2Tech.com has started a deathwatch for Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) and Nova Biosource Fuels. Pacific Ethanol could be out of cash be the end of the month, and the company may go bankrupt. This shouldn’t be a huge surprise to anyone, as the price of ethanol has plummeted and people have become aware of how inefficient it is to produce ethanol from corn.
Nova Biosource Fuels filed for Chapter 11 last week, and its shares are … Read the rest
Valence Technology just announced that it has applied for $608 million worth of low-interest federal loans from the U.S. Energy Department’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive. If it receives the loans, it plans to use them to build a $760 million manufacturing plant near Austin, Texas. The planned plant would be able to supply lithium batteries for over 250,000 electric and hyrbrid vehicles each year.
Robert Kanode, Valence’s president and CEO, commented on the loan … Read the rest
MEMC Electronic Materials has laid off 200 employees in Missouri and Texas. The company will pay $2.5 million in severance-related charges in the second quarter as a result of the layoffs.
In a regulatory filing, the company commented on the purpose of the layoffs, saying
“The action was taken to better align the company’s workforce to current manufacturing needs as demand for semiconductors and semiconductor wafers has been significantly impacted by the current global economic … Read the rest