Technology and R&D

Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) and Germany-based Fraunhofer have officially signed an agreement to undertake a joint research project focusing on the development of a solar cracking reactor.

India’s Federal Minster for New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Dr. Farooq Abdullah, has announced that the government is looking at running the country’s telecom towers on photovoltaic (PV) power.

Dow Corning has unveiled plans to establish a USD$13 million Solar Energy Exploration & Development Center (SEED) at its European headquarters in Seneffe, Belgium. Construction is expected to begin later this year.

Although China is developing its photovoltaics (PV) market rapidly, the country still has some major hurdles to overcome. As the 2010 Golden Sun PV Industry Summit, held this week in Beijing, China, clearly showed, not only do the prospects of a national feed-in tariff remain uncertain, but other key issues are proving to hinder a major ramp-up of the domestic market.

Annualized photovoltaics (PV) cell production capacity has again increased in the second quarter of this year, said IMS Research, reaching over 25 gigawatts (GW).

In its latest renewable energy attractiveness indices, Ernst & Young has announced the solar market is preparing for a shift from a “dominant” German market to other smaller hotspots. It added that Spain “remains largely in the doldrums”, with the wind industry largely thought to have won out over solar.

Scotland’s first renewable energies training center is set to be established in Edinburgh this December. Photovoltaics (PV) courses will be offered.

Germany-based Conergy is investing €5 million in new production installations for solar cells at its Frankfurt (Oder) factory. In doing this, said the company, it will be able to increase the efficiency of its solar modules and further expand its manufacturing capacities.

In what has been termed the first “systematic and comparative analysis” of the effects of regenerative energy technologies on the output of value, the German Institute for Ecological Economic Research (IÖW) has concluded that photovoltaics (PV) contributed 36 percent to Germany’s sum total last year.

NRG Energy, Inc. and Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) have announced a commitment through the Clinton Global Initiative to “greatly” expand the use of solar power to meet electricity needs for the Haitian Central Plateau commune of Boucan Carre, through the use of a USD$1 million fund.