Manufacturing

centrotherm photovoltaics AG, based in Germany, has signed several contracts for production systems and equipment in its solar cell business area with “well-known” Asian customers for undisclosed sums of money.

Neo Solar Power Corp. has started building a NT$30 billion (USD$937 million) solar cell manufacturing plant in Tainan, Taiwan, according to Bloomberg.

Premier Power Renewable Energy, Inc., REgeneration Finance, LLC. and the Douglas County School District, which serves over 56,000 students, have announced the development of three megawatts (MW) of solar electric power generating projects at 31 different sites – 30 schools and one athletic stadium – in Douglas County, Colorado, the U.S.

Germany-based SMA Solar Technology AG has received certification from Underwriters Laboratories (UL) for its transformerless inverters. This, says the company, is a world first for transformerless inverters and means that it can distribute them in the U.S. market for the first time.

Multi-crystalline solar wafer manufacturer, LDK Solar Co Ltd, has started construction on a 1.5-gigawatt (GW) solar cell and module facility in Hefei, China, according to China Business News. It says that the project is worth around RMB 2.5 billion.

MiaSolé, located in the U.S. will be supplying Germany-based juwi Solar GmbH with 608.5 megawatts (MW) of copper indium gallium (di)selenide (CIGS) photovoltaics (PV) modules.

SunEdison has installed a 296 kW rooftop mounted photovoltaics (PV) system in San Diego, the U.S. as part of AT&T’s national solar initiative. San Diego Mayor, Jerry Sanders, officially switched the system on yesterday. Additionally, AT&T outlined five other Californian solar contracts it has with SunEdison, which, including the San Diego system, are expected to see around two megawatts (MW) of PV capacity installed by the second quarter of next year.

Trina Solar Limited has said it is looking to expand its annualized in-house production capacities of ingot and wafer, as well as photovoltaics (PV) cell and module production capacity by the end of next year to approximately 1.0 gigawatts (GW) and 1.5 GW respectively. It cited yield increases achieved from improved cell conversion efficiency rates, improved production efficiencies and manufacturing line enhancements as key reasons for this expansion.

Following delays, First Solar has reportedly said it expects construction to begin on its two gigawatt (GW) solar power plant in Inner Mongolia next year, according to Reuters, who was quoting China Business News.

Schott Solar PV, Inc., VE Group LLC and Affordable Solar Group LLC have today unveiled what they say is New Mexico’s largest solar array, located at The Bell Group’s headquarters’ parking structure in Albuquerque, the U.S.