First Solar to build massive 2-GW plant in China
First Solar, the largest solar developer in the world, announced that it will be building the largest solar panel array in the world to date, at 2,000 megawatts, in the Mongolian desert. A massive undertaking, the facility isn’t expected to be finished until 2019. It… Continue Reading
SoCal Edison signs to buy 500 MW from new First Solar plants
Southern California Edison, the major utility that was conspicuously absent from last week’s bevy of applicants for smart grid stimulus funds, has forged a partnership with First Solar to buy electricity from two new thin-film photovoltaic plants slated to produce 550 megawatts for 170,000 homes.
The… Continue Reading
Solar maker Q-Cells lays off 500, moves to restructure
Germany-based Q-Cells, the second largest maker of solar cells in the world, announced today that it is cutting its staff by a fifth — trimming 500 jobs from its 2,600 workforce. The company has been very frank about reducing costs in order to remain competitive… Continue Reading
SunPower stock shines after earnings report bolsters solar
SunPower, acknowledged to be the second-largest solar module maker in the U.S., saw its stock price jump 28 percent today following its announcement of expectation-beating second quarter earnings. This success has not only fortified the company but is being cited by many analysts as evidence… Continue Reading
Roundup: Twitter’s ready for its close-up, Apple says yes to the Kama Sutra, and more
Here’s the latest action:
Twitter on the tube – More producers are turning to the micro-blogging service for television-based projects, and the site is only too happy to go Hollywood.
Auctions on the way down for eBay — The site is frantically trying to reinvent as its core… Continue Reading
Sempra and First Solar join forces for Nevada solar farm
Sempra Energy, the major utility and energy services company in Southern California, announced today that it has contracted First Solar to build a 48-megawatt array of solar panels in the Nevada desert, dubbed Copper Mountain. The facility is expected to start producing electricity within the… Continue Reading
eSolar nabs $30M licensing deal for Indian plants
eSolar has been focusing increasingly on building large-scale plants in the U.S., and shedding plans to do the same overseas. Just last week, it announced that it sold its rights to build 500 megawatts worth of solar-thermal plants to NRG Energy for $10 million in… Continue Reading
Thin film hits the rooftop as First Solar buys into SolarCity
First Solar, the undisputed top dog in the thin-film solar industry, has made a move that could prove revolutionary for the solar market. It has invested in SolarCity, a residential and commercial solar installer in San Francisco.
SolarCity will receive $25 million from First Solar, part… Continue Reading
Another massive funding for thin film solar, with $104M to AVA Solar, a challenger to First Solar
It may not be as much as the colossal $300 million financing that Nanosolar finally disclosed yesterday — the biggest ever for a solar company — but another thin-film manufacturer, AVA Solar, has broken into the nine-figure funding range today, with a challenge to industry… Continue Reading
Specialized Technology Resources, a maker of solar equipment, files for $300M IPO
Specialized Technology Resources (STR) Holdings, an Enfield, Conn.-based manufacturer of solar cell encapsulants, has filed for an IPO that could be worth as much as $300 million in common stock. It plans to trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “PVS”; Goldman Sachs and… Continue Reading
HelioVolt hopes for a fast scale-up with high-efficiency CIGS process
updated, with correction
These are heady times for the thin-film solar industry. The sector’s dominant player, First Solar, has been on a tear of late, recently announcing it would build a second 10 megawatt power plant in Nevada, while Miasole, once thought to be ailing, has… Continue Reading
Duke Energy invests $100M in rooftop solar projects
Duke Energy — hardly your conventional renewable energy startup — has thrown its hat in the solar ring with a $100 million investment in commercial-scale rooftop solar panels.
The Charlotte, North Carolina, based electric utility will partner with commercial and residential property owners to tap into… Continue Reading
HelioVolt claims CIGS thin film efficiency record
HelioVolt CEO BJ Stanbery is set to announce that his company has set a new speed record for CIGS conversion efficiency, ratcheting up the pressure in the competitive, high-stakes thin-film solar cell sector. The Austin, Texas, start-up, which raked in a cool $101 million in… Continue Reading
Nanosolar gets yet more funding for production — next up, an IPO?
Another day, another dollar, or $50 million of them. Nanosolar is now the most heavily-funded thin-film solar cell manufacturer outside the public market, with a new investment from a French company that wants it to churn out cells more quickly.
Nanosolar’s cells, which the company only… Continue Reading
Solar CIGS production to pick up — HelioVolt building plant in Austin
updated
A day after Silicon Valley solar cell company Nanosolar said it has begun manufacturing and sales of its solar cells, rival HelioVolt declared it too is building a solar cell production plant, in its hometown of Austin, Texas.
Both companies are competing to build cells from… Continue Reading