Manufacturing

Power Integrations has today announced it has powered up a USD$3.6-million solar photovoltaics (PV) array at its San Jose headquarters in the Edenvale Technology Park, in California, the U.S. At 600 kilowatts, the system is among the 10 largest solar facilities in Silicon Valley, says the company. The installation took six months to complete.

The Kyocera Corporation is set to begin full-scale production at its new Yasu solar cell manufacturing facility in Yasu City, Shiga Prefecture, Japan.

Solar company Cenergy Power and Primex Farms, grower and processor of pistachios and trader of dried fruits and nuts have begun construction on a 1.1 megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaics system at Primex’s Wasco pistachio facility, located in California, the U.S.

SunPower Corporation has completed a 505-kilowatt solar power installation for Horizon Power, a government-owned utility providing power to remote and regional communities and resource operations in Western Australia.

Centrosolar Group AG has said it expects to see revenue in excess of €370 million this year, despite a “substantial” fall in demand in the German market, predicted to take place in the third quarter of this year. The company adds that the high increase in solar module production capacity in April, from 110 MWp to currently around 155 MWp, has not been enough to meet fully the high level of demand from both Germany and other European core markets, particularly France and Italy.

SunEdison, a division of MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. has announced it is to develop and build industrial and retail rooftop photovoltaics (PV) projects worth 1.5 megawatts for CanFirst Capital Management in Canada.

Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. has said it will be supplying Azure Power, an Indian, independent solar power producer, with several megawatts of solar panels under a new partnership, in order to develop utility-scale solar projects across various states in India.

Astronergy (also known as Chint Solar) has announced that its parent company, the Chint Group, has officially signed a strategic cooperative framework agreement with the Gansu Development and Reform Commission, where it will invest in one gigawatt (GW) of solar energy projects and in 200 megawatts (MW) of manufacturing capabilities. This agreement marks the official launch of the province’s push to develop its solar industry.

Hanwha Chemical Corporation, based in Korea, has bought around USD$78 million worth of shares in China-based Solarfun Power Holdings Co., Ltd. under a new strategic agreement between the two companies. In addition, it has entered into separate agreements to acquire shares from Good Energies II LP and Yonghua Solar Power Investment Holding Ltd. As a result, it now owns 49.99 percent of Solarfun’s outstanding shares and holds a 49.99 percent voting interest in the company.

Spain’s Asociación Empresarial Fotovoltaica (AEF) announced at a press conference held last week that negotiations on future solar subsidiaries have been postponed for the next two months, while the country’s government awaits the results of an investigation to find out which PV plants were illegally connected to the power grid in September 2008.