Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Canadian Solar Inc. has signed a 100 megawatt (MW) solar module supply agreement with Fire Energy Group.

Solar Frontier has officially opened its 900 megawatt Kunitomi factory, in Japan. It is said to be the world’s largest CIS (copper indium selenide) thin film solar module production plant.

Silfab Ontario has officially opened its new solar module manufacturing facility in Mississauga, Canada. During a ribbon cutting ceremony, it was announced that the company has received approval for a €2.2 million loan.

Centrotec Sustainable AG subsidiary, the Ubbink Group, will obtain a number of assets from Systaic AG. Through the acquisition, Centrotec is looking to expand into the integrated photovoltaic and solar thermal energy roofs market.

Construction on the Hyundai-Avancis 100 megawatt Korean thin film solar module plant has begun. Expected to be operational by 2012, KRW 220 billion (around US $200 million) has been invested in the project.

Solar Junction has reached 43.5 percent efficiency on a commercial-ready concentrated photovoltaic production cell. The news comes just two months after it achieved an efficiency of 41.4 percent.

China-based Suntech has been named in IMS Research’s rankings as the largest photovoltaic module supplier in 2010. Thin film manufacturer First Solar was consequently knocked back to second place. Meanwhile, JA Solar hit the top spot for cell production.

First Solar, Inc. has announced its thin film photovoltaic modules are now available for commercial solar systems between 10 and 30 kilowatts (kW) in size. Until now, they had only been available for systems above 30 kW.

The new Flextronics/SunPower solar panel manufacturing plant will be dedicated in California today. During the event, the state’s expanded Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) will be signed into law.

3M has said it will build a manufacturing facility for photovoltaic materials and renewable energy products in China’s Hefei High-tech Park.