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November 23, 2009...First Solar reports that it has sold a 21 MW solar energy project in Blythe, California to NRG Energy, Inc. The facility is just a small part of the 1300 MW of PV solar project contracts that the company has with utilities in California and the Southwest. According to the company, the facility in Blythe in Riverside County, about 200 miles east of Los Angeles, is California's largest utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) solar generation facility, and among the largest in North America. Construction began on the project in September and is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Electricity from the plant will be sold to Southern California Edison under a 20-year power purchase agreement. The facility will reportedly employ 175 people.
First solar says that the power plant will generate about 45,000 MW/hrs of electricity per year. The company estimates that the reduction in pollution from generating electricity with solar power instead of fossil fuels would be equavalent to taking 2,200 cars permanently off the road.
"First Solar is very pleased that the first of our utility-scale solar projects in California will be coming on line with a leading power producer like NRG," said Bruce Sohn, president of First Solar. "This clean, affordable, and sustainable energy will help California meet the goals of its Renewable Portfolio Standard."
First Solar will operate and maintain the facility at Blythe under a long-term contract with NRG. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. First Solar News Release
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Emcore Awarded Solar Panel Manufacturing Contract for Cygnus Spacecraft
CompoundSemi News StaffNovember 23, 2009...Emcore Corporation, a maker of gallium arsenide-based multi-junction solar cells was awarded a contract from Dutch Space of Leiden, the Netherlands. Under the contract terms, Emcore will provide solar panels to power the Cygnus™ spacecraft, which Orbital Sciences Corporation is developing for NASA's Commercial Resupply Service (CRS) project. Emcore says that with all options exercised the total value of the contract would be greater than $15 million.
Under the CRS project, Orbital will carry out eight pressurized space cargo missions beginning in early 2011 and running through 2015 to provide a U.S.-produced and-operated automated cargo delivery service to the International Space Station (ISS). Orbital will carry out an initial demonstration flight as part of NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) project. This project will give NASA incentives to the developing commercial launch services industry. The solar panels will use Emcore's 30 percent efficient ZTJ solar cells. Emcore boasts that the ZTJ solar cell is the highest performance space qualified multi-junction solar cell available. Production of the solar panels will take place at Emcore's manufacturing facilities in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Bart Reijnen, CEO of Dutch Space commented, "From our joint experience on NASA's Dawn interplanetary project, which included Orbital as the prime contractor, we know that collaborating with Emcore results in first-class technology tailored to specific needs. Their contribution to the solar arrays for the Cygnus spacecrafts will provide the highest available efficiency, optimized for the mission." Company News Release First Solar and Chinese Government Sign Key Agreement in 2GW China Project
CompoundSemi News StaffNovember 18, 2009...First Solar, a maker of CdTe thin-film solar modules based in Tempe, Arizona USA, has signed a Cooperation Framework Agreement with the Chinese government which outlines details of a 2GW solar power plant project. The agreement reportedly spells out the local support of the project and confirms the June 1, 2010 expected construction start date for the 30MW Phase I portion of the project.
The Cooperation Framework Agreement was signed during the China-US presidential summit.First Solar President Bruce Sohn and Mayor Yun Guangzhong of the Ordos City Government signed the Cooperation Framework Agreement in the presence of Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang, Vice Minister Liu Qi of the National Energy Administration, and U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. First Solar and Ordos also agreed to establish two committees to ensure the successful execution of the project and to develop a new energy industry in Ordos.
The 2GW First Solar project is to be built in multiple phases, beginning with the 30MW Phase 1. Phases 2, 3 and 4 are to be 100MW, 870MW, and 1,000MW, respectively. Phases 2 and 3 are to be completed by 2014 and Phase 4 is to be completed by 2019. The project is part of a planned 11.95GW New Energy Industry Demonstration Zone in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, which is expected to combine solar, wind, hydroelectric and biomass power sources to provide a steady supply of renewable energy to the region that includes the Chinese capital.
First Solar News Release
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Vishay Wins Two EDN China Innovation Awards
CompoundSemi News StaffNovember 18, 2009...Vishay Intertechnology reports that it has won two 2009 EDN China Innovation Awards. One was for the recently introduced Power Metal Strip resistors and the other was for the company's TrenchFET power MOSFETs. In the Passive Component, Connector and Sensor category, Vishay was honored with a Leading Product award for a new high-temperature 1-W surface-mount Power Metal Strip resistor that is the industry's first current-sensing resistor in the 2010 case size to operate over a temperature range of -65 °C to +275 °C.
The WSLT2010...18 resistor offers a low 10-milliohms to 500-milliohms resistance value range, a tight tolerance down to +/-0.5 %, and low TCR values down to +/-75°ppm/°C. Target applications for the WSLT2010...18 include automotive engine and transmission controls, audio electronics, climate controls, and anti-lock brakes, as well as industrial oil/gas well drilling, including down hole test/measurement equipment.
In the Power Device and Module category, Vishay won a Leading Product award for its TrenchFET Gen III power MOSFET technology, which the company says enables efficient use of power in dc-to-dc conversion, battery management, and load switching circuits in computers, servers, telecom, power supplies, handheld electronics, and industrial applications.
The EDN China Innovation Awards were presented as part of the EDN China Innovation Conference at the Shenzhen Seaview O'City Hotel in Shenzhen, China. Vishay Intertechnology News Release French Research Centre Purchases Oxford Instruments Plasmalab System
CompoundSemi News StaffNovember 18, 2009...Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology reports that it has won a contract
to supply the French research centre, STnano in Strasbourg, with a Plasmalab System80 Plus ICP system.
STnano is the new Strasbourg nanofabrication facility, established jointly by IPCMS (a CNRS lab) and University of Strasbourg (UdS). Researchers at the facility have expertise in the design of nanostructures through top-down methods, and the study of their magnetic properties.
Oxford Instruments’ Plasmalab System80Plus a plasma etching and deposition processing system. STnano has purchased the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) configuration of the system, to process multiple materials including Silicon etch.
OIPT’s Plasmalab System80Plus is also available configured for etching and deposition (ICP-PECVD), reactive ion etching (RIE), plasma etching (PE) or plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD).
Dr. Hicham Majjad, Nanofabrication Manager at STnano, says that research centre chose an Oxford Instruments tool as it fitted their research requirements. “As a leading French research centre we demanded the highest specification system we could find to fit the specifications for the work we are undertaking. The Plasmalab80 Plus open load design allows for fast loading and unloading, ideal for prototyping and low volume production environments such as ours."
He added, "The system has been bought as part of the STnano's programme to equip our cleanroom with state of the art instrumentation for nano and micro scale fabrication in the fields of molecular electronic, spintronic, and polymers.” Oxford Instruments News Release SemiLEDs to Open Production Facility in Foshan, Guangdong Province, China
LIGHTimes News StaffNovember 17, 2009...SemiLEDs Corporation, an LED chip maker based in Boise, Idaho USA, has announced plans to establish a new LED wafer and LED chip production facility in Foshan, China. SemiLEDs is a major LED chip supplier to many packaging companies in China focusing on Solid State Lighting such as street lights, commercial and residential lighting.
The brand new, facility will produce LED wafers and high power LED chips using SemiLEDs patented vertical LED on metal technology. The company's patented and proprietary LED chip design has a vertical LED structure with a copper alloy base which the company says offers unparalleled advantages in thermal management and optical efficacy. Company News Release,
Content continues for LIGHTimes SecondPage members... iSuppli Predicts Thin-Film Technology’s Share of Solar Panel Market to Double by 2013
CompoundSemi News StaffNovember 16, 2009...Thin-film film solar cells are rapidly growing in market share, according to research firm iSuppi. iSuppli expects that thin-film will grow to account for 31 percent of the global solar panel market in terms of watts by 2013, up from 14 percent in 2008. In 2010 the average price for thin film solar panel is expected to be $1.40 compared to $2.00 expected for crystalline cells. Thin-film has the drawback of requiring 15 to 40 percent more space in terms of wattage produced, the company indicated
“The market viability of thin-film has been solidly established by First Solar Inc. as it rockets to become the world’s top solar panel maker this year, with more than a gigawatt of production,” said Greg Sheppard, chief research officer for iSuppli. “At the same time, the company has driven its cost of production to less than 90 cents per watt, keeping its costs at approximately half the level of crystalline module producers.”
iSuppi notes that most solar panels are made of crystalline wafers with 180 to 230 microns of polysilicon. However, thin-film panels are most often made by depositing multiple layers of other materials a few micrometers in thickness on a substrate usually using chemical vapor deposition. iSuppli indicated that companies that produce various CVD systems (from which most thin-film cells types are produced) or turnkey production lines for thin-film cells will benefit from its forecasted market share increase of thin-film.
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