April 2, 2013 Solar photovoltaic demand from the Emerging Asia Pacific and Central Asia (EAPCA) region is forecast to exceed 3 GW by 2017 according to findings in a new report released by market analyst, NPD Solarbuzz. Read more

March 27, 2013 First Solar became the world’s largest photovoltaic (PV) EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractor in 2012, with more than 500 MW of projects according to a new report from IMS Research part of IHS Inc. Read more

March 21, 2013 Chinese manufacturer Suntech Power, the world’s largest producer of solar panels in 2011, suffered from plummeting prices and announced that its main operating subsidiary had been pushed into bankruptcy by eight Chinese banks, reports The New York Times. Read more

March 20, 2013 Solar cell technology developer Solar Press has signed a long term partnership agreement to develop and sell turn-key manufacturing solutions for Organic Photovoltaic (OPV) modules with coating and printing business, KROENERT.
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March 19, 2013 Linear Technology has released a synchronous buck-boost converter that delivers up to 200 mA of continuous output current from a wide variety of input sources including single or multiple-cell batteries as well as solar panels and supercaps.
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March 14, 2013 STMicroelectronics has introduced special fast-acting variants of the company’s advanced superjunction power MOSFETs used in energy-efficient consumer products, computing and telecom systems, lighting controllers and solar energy equipment.
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March 11, 2013 Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. has broadened the company’s optoelectronics portfolio with the release of two new series of 4-pin, low- input current optocouplers with phototransistor output. Read more

February 26, 2013 Researchers at the Institute of Photonic Science (ICFO) have demonstrated that graphene is able to convert a single photon that it absorbs into multiple electrons that can drive electric current to make graphene an alternative material for light harvesting technologies. Read more

February 18, 2013 The new Photovoltaic Systems Center in Neuchâtel has become operational as a new division of CSEM. The center is dedicated to applied research and technology transfer in the domain of solar energy. Read more

February 13, 2013 Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology claim to have discovered a class of materials that can be used to create a new kind of solar cell.
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February 11, 2013 Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and organic solar cells can now be developed at Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP in Potsdam-Golm in a near-industrial scale.
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February 11, 2013 A high efficiency and wide input voltage range are the main characteristics of Linear Technology's new LT8705
synchronous buck-boost DC/DC controller.

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February 11, 2013 The world's cumulative solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity capacity surpassed 100 GW in 2012, achieving just over 101 GW, according to new market figures released by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA).
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January 31, 2013 Renesas Electronics has introduced two new photocouplers PS9332L and PS9332L2, with an integrated insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) protection function, for applications such as industrial machinery and solar power systems. Read more

January 29, 2013 Computer simulations made by researchers at the University of California, Davis, and in Hungary show that using an exotic form of silicon could substantially improve the efficiency of solar cells. Read more

January 26, 2013 Aimtec's 5 watt DC/DC converters series, AM5E-FZ, has been developed to operate at -55°C to +85°C, without derating, to support all outdoor applications, including those at risk of being exposed to severe temperature conditions this winter.
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January 17, 2013

International Rectifier has introduced a family of 300 V devices featuring IR's latest power MOSFET silicon that deliver benchmark on-state resistance (Rds(on)) for a wide range of high efficiency industrial applications.

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January 16, 2013 Heliatek GmbH announced a record breaking 12.0% cell efficiency for its organic solar cells, established in cooperation with the University of Ulm and TU Dresden. Read more

January 10, 2013 Amid rapidly falling prices, mounting losses and massive operational costs, the upstream solar photovoltaic (PV) supply chain is undergoing major consolidation, with the number of companies participating in the market expected to plunge by 70 percent this year. Read more

January 8, 2013 Stanford researchers have succeeded in developing what they claim to be the world's first peel-and-stick thin-film solar cells. Read more

January 2, 2013 News stories about ultracapacitors and supercapacitors were the focus of a lot of readers this year as designers sought new ways of storing energy to power their design solutions.



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December 20, 2012 “The photovoltaic industry is in the midst of wrenching change—buffeted by government incentive cuts and nose-diving prices that has hurt solar suppliers worldwide, rocked by trade disputes among its major players, and hamstrung by a sputtering global economy,” said Ash Sharma, director, solar research at IHS. Read more

December 20, 2012 Research centre imec and Kuwait University signed a long term collaboration agreement for research and development on innovative silicon solar cell technologies. Read more

December 17, 2012 More than 70 companies and associations in the solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity sector have co-signed a letter to European Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger, calling on the EU to take action against Member States that are enacting retroactive measures or moratoria on support schemes for renewables. Read more

December 12, 2012 Scientists at the University of Warwick have pinpointed an unappreciated property of fullerenes, namely the availability of additional electron accepting states, which could be replicated to create a new class of ‘fullerene mimics’. Read more

December 11, 2012 In cooperation with the Industrial Technology Center of Fukui Prefecture, Japan, Sphelar Power Corporation has successfully prototyped an energy-harvesting textile where spherical solar cells are interweaved. Read more

November 30, 2012 Sweden’s Lund University has revealed a new method of manufacturing the smallest structures in electronics which could make their manufacture thousands of times quicker and create the potential for cheaper semiconductors. The findings have been published in Nature magazine. Read more

November 28, 2012 A system which is based on a synthetic molecule that is changed by sunlight and is able to store solar energy in chemical bonds has been developed by researchers at Chalmers University of Technology and UC Berkeley. Read more

November 22, 2012 The European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) has launched a new version of the organization’s website, www.epia.org, with a stronger focus on important news for the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry.

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November 19, 2012 Toshiba Electronics Europe (TEE) has unveiled a sixth generation IGBT technology that offers improved switching loss/conduction loss trade-off for increased efficiency and improved performance.
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November 16, 2012 More than 20 partners have launched a Europe-wide effort to identify solutions to the wider integration of solar PV in Europe, particularly at the distribution level. Read more

November 6, 2012 Vishay Intertechnology, Inc., has unveiled a new series of snap-in power aluminum capacitors with a rated voltage of 500 V at 50°C and a category voltage of 450 V at 105°C. Read more

October 23, 2012 New research in the latest edition of the NPD Solarbuzz PV Equipment Quarterly report shows that production equipment order cancellations and push-outs by solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturers during 2012 exceeded $3 billion by the end of Q3’12. Read more

October 15, 2012 Fairchild Semiconductor has developed the FOD8316 smart gate driver optocoupler, an advanced 2.5 A output current IGBT drive optocoupler to help designers meet high performance and critical protection challenges posed by high-power industrial applications. Read more

October 12, 2012 Soitec has completed delivery on a total of 5 megawatts (MW) of its Concentrix concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) systems to seven solar power plants throughout Italy. Read more

October 12, 2012 University of Luxembourg’s Laboratory for Photovoltaics has established a method to observe and prevent solar cell degradation before solar cell production is finished, which has implications for the solar cell manufacturing industry since chemical damage to solar cells occurs quickly.
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October 12, 2012 University of Warwick researchers in collaboration with spin-out company Molecular Solar, have created an organic solar cell that generates a sufficiently high voltage to recharge a lithium-ion battery directly, without the need to connect multiple individual cells in series. Read more

October 10, 2012 Solar cells convert three-quarters of the energy contained in the Sun‘s spectrum into electricity – yet the infrared spectrum is entirely lost in standard solar cells. In contrast, black silicon solar cells are specifi cally designed to absorb this part of the Sun‘s spectrum – and researchers have recently succeeded in doubling their overall efficiency. Read more

October 8, 2012 Vishay Intertechnology has introduced a new photovoltaic solar panel protection rectifier with a high current rating of 10 A and high reverse voltage of 1000 V in the P600 axial package. Read more

September 17, 2012 IBM researchers who won the Nobel Prize for imaging individual atoms have gone a step further by imaging individual bonds between atoms. Read more

September 11, 2012 Precision, Inc is launcing two new magnetic technologies designed to enhance efficiency in micro-inverter and central-inverter solar applications. Read more

September 6, 2012 Advanced Power Electronics Corp. (USA) has released a new family of high speed 600 V discrete IGBTs for use in AC and DC motor control, home appliances (such as air conditioning, refrigerators, microwave ovens), UPS, solar inverters, and induction cookers. Read more

August 21, 2012 Flexible organic solar cell producer Heliatek is looking to raise €60m to take its technology from trials to production. Read more

August 20, 2012 An international team comprising physicists of the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart has discovered that a specific form of superconductivity competes with charge density waves, i.e. with a periodically fluctuating distribution of the charges. Read more

July 25, 2012 One of the UK’s largest importers and distributers of solar PV kits, Evergreen PV, is entering into a partnership with solar inverter manufacturers, Samil Power.

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July 16, 2012 Market intelligence analyst, NPD Solarbuzz, is forecasting that a technology roadmap for the PV industry is set to emerge during 2013, bringing the PV industry into alignment with adjacent technology sectors where roadmaps typically have broad industry support.
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July 12, 2012 Amphenol Industrial Global Operations is now offering a molded in-line fuse that helps protect photovoltaic systems from ground fault current damage. Used by PV system engineers, EPCs, solar contractors and design engineers, Amphenol's HelioFuse is rugged and easy to install. Read more

July 10, 2012 DisaSolar, a high technology French company from Limoges,has signed a three-year research contract with the French Ministry of Defence (DGA) to design bio-mimetic solar panels for military purposes. Read more

July 4, 2012 A group of researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) headed by Dr. Alexander Colsmann at the Light Technology Institute (LTI) are beginning to intensify a four-year project of printable organic solar cell research. Read more

June 26, 2012 Researchers at MIT have found that relatively simple, microscale roughening of a surface can enhance its transfer of heat which could play an important part in many developing technologies, including advanced microchips and concentrated solar-power systems. Read more

June 25, 2012 Researchers at the MIT have found a way to reduce the thickness of the silicon used in solar cells by more than 90 percent while still maintaining high efficiency, by etching inverted nanopyramids into the surface. Read more

June 22, 2012 A multidisciplinary team of researchers at MIT and in Spain has found a new mathematical approach to simulating the electronic behavior of noncrystalline materials. Read more

June 22, 2012 According to Swedish researchers at the Linköping University, cubic silicon carbide may be capable of collecting more than twice the solar energy than silicon based solar cells. Read more

June 14, 2012 Experts from Loughborough University are to lead a new £5 million project to boost research, training and industry partnerships in the solar energy sector.
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June 12, 2012 Kaneka and imec report A large area (6 inch semi-square) heterojunction silicon solar cell with a certified power conversion efficiency of 22.68 percent (certified by Fraunhofer ISE CalLab) with an electroplated copper contact grid on top of the transparent conductive oxide layer has been developed by Kaneka and imec. Read more

June 5, 2012 Nanosolar has raised USD70 million in new capital to expand the production of thin film solar cells and panels and support research and development. Read more

June 1, 2012 Linear Technology Corporation has introduced a high voltage ideal diode controller that offers a simple low loss replacement to Schottky diodes, along with key features targeted for automotive, avionics as well as solar applications. Read more

May 29, 2012 Using tiny solar-panel-like cells surgically placed underneath the retina, scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have devised a system that may someday restore sight to people who have lost vision because of certain types of degenerative eye diseases. Read more

May 15, 2012 Solar photovoltaic demand during 2H'12 will see increasing contributions from emerging markets in North America and Asia Pacific, with 60% of PV demand coming from non-European regions according to new research featured in NPD Solarbuzz's PV Market Quarterly report. Read more

May 10, 2012 Microsemi Corporation has introduced the first in a series of new generation 1200 volt (V) non-punch through (NPT) IGBTs. Read more

May 3, 2012 Researchers at the University of Basel in Switzerland are claiming a new approach to creating sustainable and renewable photovoltaic devices. Read more

April 23, 2012 In order to create light or energy by injecting or collecting electrons, printed electronics require conductors, usually calcium, magnesium or lithium, with a low-work function. These metals are chemically very reactive. Read more

April 17, 2012 Cornell Dubilier has released high energy density DC link capacitors for larger inverter systems which are suitable for supporting DC link applications where high bus voltage, high capacitance, and high ripple current are required for smoothing and filtering. Read more

April 17, 2012 Three new junction boxes for PV solar power applications have been introduced by Multi-Contact. The Westlake box is cost-optimised for crystalline solar panels and its low profile means it can be installed directly under the module frame. Read more

April 13, 2012 Researchers from the Department of Chemistry at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden, have constructed a molecular catalyzer that rapidly oxidizes water to oxygen which could prove critical for the future uptake of solar energy. Read more

April 4, 2012 Global solar PV installations will grow by at least 3.5 percent and up to 21 percent in 2012, according to a new report released by market analyst, IMS Research. Read more

April 3, 2012 Eighteen industrial and research partners have joined forces in an EU Fast Track project aiming to refine thin-film solar module technology. Within three years, the researchers plan to produce a marketable prototype with an efficiency of 12 percent. Read more

March 26, 2012 A team of MIT researchers have added a new dimension to improving the performance of solar photovoltaic cells and bringing down their cost.  The researchers are building cubes or towers that extend the solar cells upward in three-dimensional configurations.  Read more

March 23, 2012 Renesas Electronics has expanded the company's RX600 MCU family with the new 32-bit RX62G group. The MCUs are optimized for digital power control applications, including motor control with power factor correction (PFC), digital power supply, UPS and solar inverters. Read more

March 20, 2012 Global solar photovoltaic (PV) market installations reached a record high of 27.4 GW in 2011, up 40% Y/Y, according to the annual PV market report, 2012 Marketbuzz issued by NPD Solarbuzz. Market growth overall in 2011 was driven by strong second half demand ahead of further deep cuts in solar incentives. Read more

March 14, 2012 Squeezing another penny out of the cost of conventional solar cell manufacturing is no longer a viable approach for cleantech companies that have seen the price of solar panels drop by more than 40 percent since 2011. Addressing that reality, a manufacturing equipment maker promises to shift the focus of solar and chip manufacturing with a wafer production machine that it claims can greatly reduce silicon and other substrate material costs. Read more

March 13, 2012 Heliatek GmbH has inaugurated the company's first production facility for the manufacture of flexible organic solar panels in Dresden, Germany. Read more

March 12, 2012 At Geneva International Airport SRB Energy has delivered the first of the solar panels that will form one of the largest solar energy systems of Switzerland. Ultimately, some 300 high-temperature solar thermal panels will cover a surface of 1 200 square meters on the roof of the airport’s main terminal building. The panels, which will be used to keep the buildings warm during the winter and cool in the summer, are derived from vacuum technology developed at CERN for particle accelerators. Read more

February 28, 2012 Funded by a £466,000 grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) plan to use new ultrafast laser equipment, capable of generating intense pulses of light as short as a few femtoseconds from the UV to the infra red, to measure how energy is transferred from molecule to molecule and point the way to molecular structures for exploiting solar radiation. Read more

February 23, 2012 Europe's leading organic and large-area electronics (OLAE) organizations have joined forces in the Framework 7 project COLAE, which aims to speed up the commercialization and adoption of organic and large area electronics by promoting collaboration between industry clusters throughout Europe. COLAE will utilize the resources and know-how of the project partners to provide tools and services for the existing organic electronics industry, as well as supporting the entry of new players. Read more

February 16, 2012 Heliatek GmbH, a global leader in high-end solar PV technology, has signed a joint development agreement with RECKLI GmbH, a world leader in the manufacture of elastic molds for concrete building facades. The deal will enable vertical concrete walls of buildings to become highly efficient solar energy harvesters by integrating Heliatek's organic solar panels directly onto concrete facade blocks. Read more

February 14, 2012 Soitec SA said its Concentrix Solar division has raised funds to build a 50-megawatt solar power plant in Touwsrivier, Western Cape, South Africa. Read more

February 13, 2012 A three-year European research project aims to push solar-cell efficiency towards 25 percent and reduce power conversion losses by 20 percent. Read more

February 10, 2012 A joint research project between the University of Southampton and lithium battery technology company REAPsystems has discovered that a new type of battery has the potential to improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of solar power. Read more

February 7, 2012 Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) has released two new solar kits based on its C2000 32-bit Piccolo and Concerto microcontrollers (MCUs). The new solar kits bring advanced peripherals, application-targeted development hardware, schematics, comprehensive software libraries of algorithms and an industry-leading development environment to the renewable energy market, allowing designers to easily create solar inverter designs while evaluating various solar algorithms and topologies. Read more

February 2, 2012 Polyera Corporation has achieved a certified world-record 9.1% efficient polymer/fullerene organic solar cell in an inverted bulk heterojunction architecture using its newest proprietary ActivInk PV2000 semiconductor material. The high efficiency of this material in an inverted architecture, in combination with its other leading-edge properties, is claimed to represent a breakthrough in the development of organic solar cell technology for large-scale manufacturing of low-cost, lightweight, flexible, and optically semi-transparent solar modules. The device performance was certified by Newport Corporation's PV Cell Lab. Read more

February 1, 2012 In its newly released report, "CIGS Photovoltaics Markets-2012," industry analyst firm NanoMarkets forecasts revenues from CIGS panels will reach $4.4 billion (USD) by 2017. And while the recent announcement of a 150 MW solar farm supports the notion that CIGS technology is finally ready for prime time, NanoMarkets says that CIGS manufacturers will have to adopt new strategies to protect themselves from falling solar panel prices. Read more

January 25, 2012 Intersil Corporation has introduced the ISL3261x series of RS-485/RS-422 transmitters and receivers designed to meet the strict power budgets of battery and remote sensing applications. Operating from an industry-low 1.8 V supply voltage and consuming less than 150 uW, this new family is the optimal solution for designers who need to increase battery life and/or reduce the size of their power supply. Read more

January 10, 2012 In this news analysis article EE Times Europe Power Management's editor, Paul Buckley quizzes Dr. Martin Pfeiffer, co-founder and CTO of Heliatek GmbH, a global leader and Heliatek's CEO, Thibaud Le Seguillon, to learn more about the high-end solar PV technology company's pioneering developments which continue to break world efficiency records in the field of organic photovoltaics and recently earned some of the company's technologists to clinch the 2011 Deutscher Zukunftspreis (German Prize for Innovation and Technology). Read more

January 4, 2012 Nokia has completed a research project on phone charging using harvested solar energy. So can the sun be relied on to charge your phone? Nokia is searching for improved energy efficiency and more sustainable alternatives for mobile phone users. The solar energy project was designed to assess the viability and ease of solar charging for mobile phones. The idea was also to look at the possibilities for phone charging in conditions where it's not possible to plug in to recharge the phone, or where the electricity supply is uncertain. Read more

January 3, 2012 Picosun Oy, a Finnish manufacturer of atomic layer deposition (ALD) equipment, reports successful final results of the European Union 7th Framework Programme funded research project ROD-SOL. The goal of this multinational, inter-European, three year (2009-2011) project, combining the efforts of both scientific and industrial partners, has been to dramatically increase the efficiency of solar cells and reduce the costs of their manufacturing. Read more

January 3, 2012 The two plants will be the first large-scale solar photovoltaic energy projects in Latin America. 113,600 thin-film amorphous hydrogenated-silicon modules produced by T-Solar's Orense, Spain factory will be deployed over 206 hectares of land in the Arequipa region in southern Peru. Isolux Corsán, T-Solar's parent company, has been retained as EPC contractor and will carry out construction works. Read more

December 26, 2011 As we are hurtle inexorably into 2012 now is time to unveil EE Times Europe Power Management's Top 10 most popular news stories of 2011. The results are based on the news stories that were accessed by EE Times Europe Power Management's readership since January 1, 2011. Read more

December 23, 2011 Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a method to chemically etch patterned arrays in gallium arsenide (GaAs) used in solar cells, lasers, light emitting diodes (LEDs), field effect transistors (FETs), capacitors and sensors. Read more

December 22, 2011 A team of researchers at the University of Notre Dame (Indiana) is working on an inexpensive “solar paint” that uses semiconducting nanoparticles to produce energy. By incorporating power-producing nanoparticles, called quantum dots, into a spreadable compound, the researchers have made a one-coat solar paint that can be applied to any conductive surface without special equipment. Read more

December 21, 2011 Stion Corp., a startup formed to manufacture thin-film solar modules, has announced a $130 million equity investment led by AVACO and a number of Korean private equity funds. Existing investors Khosla Ventures, TSMC (through its VentureTech Alliance), Lightspeed Venture Partners, Braemar Energy Ventures, and General Catalyst Partners all participated in the round. Read more

December 19, 2011 Financial challenges are forcing solar photovoltaic (PV) companies to prioritize a return to profitability and shift focus from seeking market share, finds NPD Solarbuzz’s latest Solarbuzz Quarterly report . The market analyst predicts that global demand is projected to grow 6% in 2012, so market declines in Europe will be offset by 43% growth outside that region. Solar companies will consequently face the challenge of re-building margins during a period of increasing diversity in end solar market mix. Read more

December 9, 2011 Dow Corning has entered into a long-term supply agreement with Air Products for electronic-grade silane, a material used for manufacturing of flat panel displays, semiconductors and photovoltaic cells. Read more

December 5, 2011 Heliatek GmbH, a global leader in high-end solar PV technology, is claiming a new world record for organic solar cells after Fraunhofer ISE CalLab (Freiburg, Germany) measured and certified under standard test conditions a cell efficiency of 9.8 % for a 1.1 cm² tandem cell manufactured with a low temperature deposition process. The new record is the third time in a row that Heliatek has set a world record for efficiency in the field of organic photovoltaics. Read more

December 2, 2011 A conversion efficiency of 23.3% on interdigitated back-contact (IBC) silicon solar cell has been demonstrated by Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (Imec) working together with its silicon photovoltaic industrial affiliation program partners Schott Solar, Total, Photovoltech, GDF-SUEZ, Solland Solar, Kaneka and Dow Corning. Read more

November 29, 2011 Vincotech has added three new products to the company’s family of power modules for single-phase solar inverter and UPS applications. The new additions to Vincotech’s series of flowSOL 0 power modules meet the latest demands of single-phase solar inverter and UPS inverter applications. Featuring a booster and inverter (H-bridge) in the same flow0 housing, they are rated for 1.5 kW to 5 kW. Read more

November 28, 2011 Stanford University's latest solar car, which took part in last month's World Solar Challenge, a sun-powered car race across Australia, used STM32 32-bit MCUs to manage its subsystems. Read more

November 28, 2011 At the 21st International Photovoltaic Science and Engineering Conference, held on November 28th – December 2nd in Fukuoka, Japan, Kaneka and imec will present silver-free heterojunction silicon solar cells. The results were obtained by applying copper electroplating technology, which was developed by Kaneka based on imec's existing copper electroplating technology, A conversion efficiency of more than 21% was achieved in 6-inch silicon substrates with an electroplated copper contact grid on top of the transparent conductive oxide layer. Read more

November 25, 2011 Israeli startup Global Recycling Projects Ltd., is working on a system to treat sludge waste and transform it into energy and raw materials by harnessing solar energy to thermo-chemically transform the waste. Read more

November 22, 2011 IBM is harnessing the power of the sun with a massive installation of a 6,000 square foot array of solar panels in Bangalore, India, which the firm claims can run 50 kilowatts of computer equipment for around 330 days a year, running five hours a day. Read more

November 17, 2011 SOLARWATT’s Easy-In in-roof system has been awarded MCS Certification (Microgeneration Certification Scheme) for the British market. The quality seal is an internationally recognized and independent certificate issued by the British examination office BBA (British Board of Agrément) for excellent product quality and safety. Read more

November 16, 2011 Soitec, a world leader in generating and manufacturing revolutionary semiconductor materials for the electronics and energy industries, is entering into a joint venture with Reflexite Energy Solutions Inc., a U.S.-based global supplier of microstructured optical components for the solar power, lighting, instrumentation and display industries. Read more

October 28, 2011 SOLON Corporation, a leading provider of utility-scale and commercial photovoltaic (PV) system solutions to the North American market , has selected Saft to provide a Li-ion battery for its Energy Storage Management Research and Testing (SMRT) site. The design and construction of the site will be managed by SOLON, in conjunction with Tucson Electric Power (TEP) and the Arizona Research Institute for Solar Energy (AzRISE) at the University of Arizona. Read more

October 25, 2011 Scientists at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen (LMU) have discovered a new way to optimize the performance of organic solar cells. Ultrafast measurements on hybrid PV cells now reveal a route to double their efficiency. Read more

October 25, 2011 CNSE in a partnership with Sematech has launched the Solar Energy Development Center in Halfmoon, NY, to engage with the solar energy community to work on increasing the performance of CIGS solar cells. Read more

October 24, 2011 Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. is broadening its optoelectronics portfolio with the introduction of the industry’s first CAT IV, high-voltage isolation optocouplers available in surface-mount packages. Certified by the international safety regulatory agency VDE, the CNY64ST and CNY65ST series products offer long creepage distances and a high isolation test voltage to protect workers and equipment used in high-voltage environments like solar power and wind turbine grid connections. Read more

October 21, 2011 Sometimes a change in surroundings makes all the difference. That's the approach a group of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory has used to improve the electricity output of a semiconductor material used in polymer-based solar cells. By confining the light-absorbing/charge-separating material within nanometer-scale pores, instead of using it in continuous thin-film sheets, the scientists enhanced the material’s electrical conductivity by more than 500 times — and produced solar cells with twice the electricity output for the same amount of absorbed sunlight. Read more

October 19, 2011 Soitec has introduced the company’s fifth generation of concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) systems with enhanced features and performance characteristics specifically designed to benefit large-scale utility power plants. The new product configuration delivers higher efficiency and lower cost of electricity. Read more

October 18, 2011 Mouser Electronics has launched a new Solar Technology Product Knowledge Center (PKC) training site for electronic design engineers. Read more

October 18, 2011 Molecular Solar Ltd, a spin-out company from the University of Warwick, is claiming a breakthrough in the performance of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells. The company has achieved and demonstrated a record voltage for organic photovoltaic cells that means these highly flexible, low cost solar cells can now be devolved for commercial uses in a wide range of consumer electronics. Read more

October 14, 2011 Diodes Incorporated has released the 12-A-rated SBR12U45LH Super Barrier Rectifier (SBR) which is provided in a ultra-low profile PowerDI-5SP package. The SBR12U45LH SBR addresses key design and manufacturing concerns of solar panel makers producing next generation PV modules. Read more

October 10, 2011 Lighting technology company Hella KG has added two new products to its portfolio of EcoStreet powered stationary street lamps. The Towersun Park and Towersun Twin lamps are energy-autonomous and offer high efficiency. Read more

October 10, 2011 Research scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems IMS in Duisburg have now developed wireless window contacts which indicate when a house's windows are open or closed.  The fail-safe system uses sensors that harvest the energy they need to run from ambient radio signals. Read more

September 27, 2011 Researchers of the Chemical Engineering department and the Kavli institute of the TU Delft have demonstrated that electrons can move freely in layers of linked semiconductor nanoparticles under the influence of light. The new discovery paves the way for the development of cheap and efficient quantum dot solar cells. Read more

September 7, 2011 AMETEK Programmable Power has introduced a 3U high single box PV simulator. The PV-simulator-in-a-box uses the same AMETEK Windows-based software as the turn-key TerraSAS solutions. Read more

September 6, 2011 An organic polymer-based single junction solar cell with 6.9% performance in an innovative inverted device stack has been revealed at the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (PVSEC) in Hamburg, Germany by Belgian research centre, imec, in partnership with Plextronics and Solvay. Read more

September 5, 2011 A new study by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) forecasts that solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity can be competitive with grid electricity in some European markets as early as 2013, and in all market segments across the continent by 2020. Read more

September 5, 2011 Trident Solar is launching the company’s new single-step VersaEtch Etchant / n-Dopant material for inkjet selective emitter application of solar front contacts (c-Si). Used with the Trident 256Jet-S printhead, the new VersaEtch Etchant/n-Dopant can match the enhanced cell efficiency (0.5-1.0%) and precise deposition performance (demonstrated 50 micron print) of other selective emitter approaches. Read more

September 1, 2011 US PV module supplier, Solyndra, announced yesterday that it had shut its manufacturing facility and will file for bankruptcy, the third to do so in a month. The sudden decision, and the failure of the business, should really come as no surprise and is a warning to all other PV module start-ups. Read more

September 1, 2011 International Rectifier has introduced a family of reliable, efficient 1200 V Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs) for induction heating, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), solar and welding applications. Read more

August 18, 2011 Navigant's Solar Services Program has released its annual report Analysis of Worldwide Solar Markets and Five‐Year Application Forecast 2010/2011. The comprehensive annual report provides an analysis of global demand for solar systems and products, a five‐year application forecast to 2015, and a long term aggregate forecast to 2020. Read more

August 17, 2011 In the world of solar energy, organic photovoltaic solar cells have a wide range of potential applications, but they are still considered an upstart. While these carbon-based cells, which use organic polymers or small molecules as semiconductors, are much thinner and less expensive to produce than conventional solar cells made with inorganic silicon wafers, they still lag behind in their ability to efficiently convert sunlight into electricity. Read more

August 12, 2011 The solar market is projected to grow in terms of megawatts installed in Asia and North America, but revenues will stay flat as price declines outpace volume growth. Read more

July 26, 2011 Prof. Eicke Weber, spokesperson for the Fraunhofer Energy Alliance, says that the transition to renewable energy is set to deliver an economic pay off in the years to come and points out that various studies show a shift to alternative energy sources will raise the GNP in the coming decade and create new jobs Read more

July 11, 2011 Schurter has introduced a new standard DC filter series FMER SOL suited for use on the DC side of the inverter in photovoltaic systems. The filters are cURus approved up to 1000 VDC and an ambient temperature up to 75°C. Read more

July 8, 2011 With its in-roof system Solarwatt Easy-in, Solarwatt AG aims at replacing conventional roofing tiles, which eliminates costs, and at the same time uses solar energy to produce electricity which can be used on-site or fed into the local grid. The owner of such a solar system is compensated according to the energy-feed-in-law (EEG). The Easy-in has been developed for pitched roofs with wooden skid. It fits many different roof types and pitches between 22 and 65 degrees. Read more

July 7, 2011 University of Toronto engineering researchers reported in Nature Photonics a new solar cell that may pave the way to inexpensive coatings that efficiently convert the sun's rays to electricity. The researchers, led by Professor Ted Sargent of electrical and computer engineering, report the first efficient tandem solar cell based on colloidal quantum dots (CQD). Read more

July 4, 2011 Atonometrics, Inc., has announced that it has installed and qualified a Continuous Solar Simulator at Fraunhofer ISE in Freiburg, Germany. Read more

July 4, 2011 The new Solarbuzz Quarterly report pinpoints that weak European photovoltaic (PV) market demand in the first half of 2011 caused global solar module inventories to soar at the end of Q2'11. Read more

June 22, 2011 Continued government policy adjustments are causing major shifts in the sizes, growth rates and customer segment mix of photovoltaic (PV) markets in 2011, according to the conclusions of three new Regional Downstream PV Market reports issued by market analyst, Solarbuzz. Read more

June 16, 2011 The ZXGD3006E6 gate driver from Diodes Incorporated is designed for switching high power IGBTs and helps to increase power conversion efficiency in solar inverter, motor drive and power supply applications. Read more

June 15, 2011 Schurter's ASO solar fuse now meets both IEC 60269-6 and UL 2579 standards for the protection of photovoltaic systems which means the component is suitable for use according to the latest gPV requirements. Read more

June 13, 2011 Concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) systems supplier, Circadian Solar, has taken on additional premises in the UK in preparation for pilot production of its concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) systems. Read more

June 13, 2011 QSolar Limited has accelerated shipments of the company's solar photovoltaic (PV) panels to European clients. QSolar's product shipments were of the 230 W and 250 W panels and represent a 100% increase compared with the previous quarter's shipments. Read more

June 10, 2011 Future Energy Solutions is demonstrating a micro-inverter reference design board at the InterSolar 2011 exhibition, which aims to provide a model for the rapid development of highly efficient and reliable micro-inverter end products. The reference design is suitable for micro-inverters serving Photovoltaic (PV) solar panel arrays rated up to 200 W and comprising up to 72 cells. Read more

June 7, 2011 The possibility of large structures such as solar sails or antenna reflectors being built in space instead of on Earth has taken a step forward following the award of a grant by the UK Technology Strategy Board to Leicestershire-based Magna Parva for the development of a Consolidated Off Planet Manufacturing and Assembly System for Large Space Structures (COPMA). Read more

June 6, 2011 Molex's SolarSpec smart junction box makes it easy for manufacturers of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels to provide their products with module-embedded safety and monitoring functions, as well as convenient, safe and dependable connection facilities. Read more

May 31, 2011 Donauer Solartechnik Vertriebs GmbH has set up the new e-mobility business with the aim of rapidly developing solar-powered solutions to support electromobility applications worldwide. The product portfolio includes system solutions and components associated with electromobility. Read more

May 31, 2011 SolarEdge Technologies, a global provider of end-to-end solar power optimization systems, has agreed new distribution partnership deal with Cleaner Air Solutions, one of the largest providers of solar PV systems in the UK.  The agreement will increase SolarEdge's activities in the UK. In the first quarter of 2011 Cleaner Air Solutions ordered 3MW of SolarEdge power optimizers and solar inverters. The run rate is expected to rise through the spring and summer of 2011. Read more

May 30, 2011 G24 Innovations Ltd., a pioneer of dye-sensitized thin-film solar cells, is working with Texas Instruments to combine G24i's solar cell technology with TI power conversion ICs. Read more

May 25, 2011 The Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) is claiming a breakthrough in the development of efficient web coating of thin-film solar modules made of copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) on plastic film. The researchers from Stuttgart, Germany say they have already completed the most important production steps in one go, using a continuously running system. Read more

May 23, 2011 The market for semiconductors for solar and wind energy-generation systems will grow 26.5 percent in 2011, after expanding 25.4 percent in 2010 to reach revenues of $1.4 billion. That was one conclusion from a new report by market watchers at The Information Network. Read more

May 20, 2011 Microsemi Corporation has introduced three families of power modules spanning all major solar converter topologies. The new products include boost-only modules for solar converters with and without transformers, and a family of boost-and-buck modules for three-phase, three-level neutral point clamped (NPC) solar converters. Read more

May 19, 2011 Unitronic is planning to present a wireless-based, solar-powered sensor module for continuous monitoring of the carbon monoxide (CO)concentration in various buildings and in industrial applications at SENSOR+TEST 2011 in Nuremberg (Germany) from 7 to 9 June 2011 Read more

May 12, 2011 Flextronics International Ltd., and MEMC Electronic Materials Inc.'s Singapore subsidiary have expanded their agreement to produce solar panels for MEMC's SunEdison subsidiary. Read more

May 11, 2011 A team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Jun Xu has developed a 3D nanocone-based solar cell platform that claims to improve charge transport thereby boosting the light-to-power conversion efficiency of photovoltaics by nearly 80 percent. Read more

May 10, 2011 Yamaichi Electronics has developed the new, cost-effective Eco-Si J-Box, which is a new photovoltaic junction box for crystalline solar modules for the Y-Sol product family. The device also offers the advantages of the ‘Hermetic Sealed’ overmolding technology. Read more

May 10, 2011 KACO new energy, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of grid-tie inverters for feeding solar energy, is releasing new software for three-phase inverters that can now be downloaded from KACO new energy’s website. Read more

May 5, 2011 SemiSouth Laboratories, Inc., has launched a new class of 45 milliohm, 1200 V, normally on trench SiC power JFETs. The devices target a range of application spaces, including solar inverters, SMPS, induction heating, UPS, wind applications, and motor drives. The device claimsthe lowest on-state resistance of any commercial SiC transistor in the world. Read more

May 4, 2011 Solar photovoltaic micro-inverter manufacturer Enecsys Ltd., (Cambridge, UK) has secured £25 million ($41 million) in Series B equity financing to invest in its growth plan. This brings the amount invested in Enecsys to $55.3 million. Read more

May 3, 2011 Physicists at the University of Luxembourg have developed a new method to improve the electrical conductivity of polymeric composites which can be used to make flat-panel displays and solar cells more efficient. Read more

April 29, 2011 French oil and gas vendor Total Group will launch a ''friendly tender offer'' to buy 60 percent of SunPower Corp., for $1.38 billion. Read more

April 28, 2011 Researchers at the Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials at Wake Forest University have designed a new polymer-based solar-thermal device that can generate power from both heat and visible sunlight, an advance that could shave the cost of heating a home by as much as 40 percent. Read more

April 27, 2011 Semikron has introduced the newest member of the company's MiniSKiiP IGBT power semiconductor module family. The new modules are available in 3-level topology and boast a rated current of 4.9A/cm², the highest rated current per unit area when compared with competitor products. Read more

April 20, 2011 A woven polymer electrode developed by Empa of Switzerland, which is an interdisciplinary research and services institution for material sciences and technology development within the ETH Domain, claims to be producing first results that indicate the new material may be a substitute for indium tin oxide coatings. Read more

April 20, 2011 Organic photovoltaics won't compete with conventional solar technologies, limiting its market potential due to comparatively poor conversion efficiencies and short lifetimes. Read more

April 18, 2011 The scale of expansion plans announced by PV cell manufacturers look set to create a $15.2 billion revenue opportunity for PV equipment suppliers during 2011, an increase of 41% Y/Y, according to the latest Solarbuzz PV Equipment Quarterly report. Read more

April 15, 2011 Solar Junction, a developer of multi-junction cells for the concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) market, claims to have set a world-record for 43.5 percent efficiency on a commercial-ready production cell. Read more

April 13, 2011 IMS Research's latest analysis of the global PV supply chain, based on shipment data from hundreds of suppliers, reveals that Suntech was the largest PV module supplier in 2010, growing the company’s shipments by more than 130% compared with the previous year, to ship more MWs than any of its competitors. Read more

April 13, 2011 Solar3D, Inc., the developer of a 3-dimensional solar cell technology to maximize the conversion of sunlight into electricity, has completed the design of the Light Collector section, a critical part of its novel solar cell. Read more

April 8, 2011 Manufacturer of multicrystalline solar wafers and PV products LDK Solar announced a business investment of approximately USD40 million to establish a new manufacturing plant in Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province. Read more

April 7, 2011 Researchers at the University of Warwick have developed a gold plated window as the transparent electrode for organic solar cells. The electrodes have the potential to be relatively cheap since the thickness of gold used is only 8 billionths of a metre. Read more

April 7, 2011 Thin film solar innovation leader Nanosolar, Inc. has revealed new efficiency benchmarks of 11.6 percent for the Nanosolar Utility Panel and 13.9 percent for its printed CIGS (Copper, Indium, Gallium, Selenium) solar cells, as measured by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy (ISE) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The company has also announced an agreement for panel warranty insurance with Munich Re, and membership in European panel recycling organization PV Cycle. Read more

March 30, 2011 Semikron is offering customer-specific power modules with individual circuit topologies, chip combinations and protection supported by an expert engineering service.  The modules are designed and integrated as required in special packaging matched for UPS, solar, motor drives, welding or traction applications with output power of up to 150 kW. Read more

March 15, 2011 Worldwide solar photovoltaic (PV) market installations reached a record high of 18.2 GW in 2010 according to the annual PV market report, Marketbuzz 2011, pubished by solar energy consultancy, Solarbuzz.  Read more

March 14, 2011 The Laboratory for Photovoltaics of the University of Luxembourg has developed a preparation process for thin film solar cell technologies that improves the control of tin loss and promises record efficiencies. Read more

March 10, 2011 Soitec’s Concentrix concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) technology has been selected by Tenaska Solar Ventures to produce 150MW of clean energy for San Diego Gas & Electric. The new CPV solar power plant, named Imperial Solar Energy Center (ISEC) West, will be constructed on a 1057-acre site in Southern California’s western Imperial County, and is expected to be completed in 2015. Read more

March 9, 2011 Researchers are developing a technology that aims to help make solar cells more affordable and efficient by using a new manufacturing method that employs an ultrafast pulsing laser. The innovation may help to overcome two major obstacles that hinder widespread adoption of solar cells: the need to reduce manufacturing costs and increase the efficiency of converting sunlight into an electric current, said Yung Shin, a professor of mechanical engineering and director of Purdue University's Center for Laser-Based Manufacturing. Read more

March 8, 2011 The Alpha-Core Division of Bridgeport Magnetics Group Inc. has introduced a line of high power inductors for high frequency applications with a minimum 30% size and weight reduction using high performance gapped amorphous ribbon cores instead of conventional cores of silicon steel or powdered iron. Read more

March 7, 2011 At APEC 2011, Infineon Technologies has revealed that medium voltage power MOSFETs, OptiMOS, are now available in the CanPAK package which uses DirectFET technology licensed from International Rectifier Corporation. The new devices can be used in a wide range of industrial applications like DC-DC converters, solar micro inverters, Maximum Power Point Trackers (MPPT) in solar energy systems, low voltage drives and synchronous rectification for servers. Read more

February 28, 2011 A collaborative project between Solaris Synergy from Israel and the EDF Group from France is focusing on the development of floating solar power plants which aim to overcome the need for vast land areas needed to build traditional solar cell systems and should reduce high maintenance costs Read more

February 24, 2011 Schurter has unveiled the company’s new standard DC filter series FMER SOL which has been developed for use on the DC side of the inverter in photovoltaic systems and other DC systems Read more

February 23, 2011 Solyndra, manufacturer of cylindrical shaped photovoltaic (PV) systems, has announced a new solar application for agricultural greenhouse and shade structures that takes advantage of the ability of light to pass through Solyndra's proven solar panel design, allowing for the dual use of land for existing agricultural practices while generating considerable electricity. Read more

February 22, 2011 The European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA), which is the world’s largest photovoltaic industry association, has published a report that shows in 2010 solar photovoltaic power (PV) was the leading renewable energy technology in terms of new capacity growth by almost 13,000 MW in Europe. The energy output of these new PV installations corresponds to the electricity production of two large coal-fired power plants. Read more

February 21, 2011 At Mobile World Congress, Umeox launched the Apollo, a solar-powered Android phone. The Chinese manufacturer showcased two different models: one for the US (MTK6573) with support for 850/1900Mhz bands and one (the MTK6516) that will work in Europe and much of Asia. Read more

February 14, 2011 Donauer Solartechnik's new Mobile Solar Power System (MSPS) offers a container that includes everything needed to create a reliable photovoltaic power supply. Read more

January 21, 2011 Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. has expanded its TMBS Trench MOS Barrier Schottky rectifiers for solar bypass applications with four new 45 V devices offering eSMP surface-mount and  axial-leaded package options.  Read more

January 17, 2011 Quarterly PV manufacturing equipment spending by c-Si ingot-to-module and thin-film panel producers grew for the sixth consecutive quarter during Q4’10 to $2.9 billion according to the latest Solarbuzz PV Equipment Quarterly report. Read more

January 17, 2011 Oxford Photovoltaics, a company recently spun out from the University of Oxford by Isis Innovation Ltd., has developed a new solar cell technology that is manufactured from cheap, abundant, non-toxic and non-corrosive materials and can be scaled to any volume. Harnessing the sun’s energy, the solar cells are printed onto glass or other surfaces, are available in a range of colours and could be ideal for new buildings where solar cells are incorporated into glazing panels and walls. Read more

January 14, 2011 Global solar wafer manufacturer, ReneSola Ltd, has developed a new multicrystalline wafer, the Virtus Wafer, that achieves an average cell conversion efficiency rate of 17.5%, which is more than 1% higher than the industry-standard cell conversion efficiency rate for cells using multicrystalline wafers. Read more

January 11, 2011 The 10-Amp gate driver from Diodes Incorporated has been designed to ensure ultra fast switching of power MOSFET and IGBT loads in power supply, solar inverter and motor drive circuits. With its emitter follower configuration delivering propagation delay times of less than 10 ns and rise and fall times of less than 20 ns, the ZXGD3005E6 non inverting gate driver will reduce switching losses, simplify circuit design and improve overall system reliability. Read more

January 10, 2011 The latest analysis from market analyst, IMS Research, shows that US PV system integrators gained places in the rankings in 2010. The market intelligence provider, which conducts ongoing surveys of system integrators and utilities, revealed that three large-scale system providers from the US appeared amongst the ten largest integrators in 2010 for the first time. Read more

January 5, 2011 Researchers at the Purdue University are creating a new type of solar cell designed to self-repair like natural photosynthetic systems in plants by using carbon nanotubes and DNA, an approach aimed at increasing service life and reducing cost. Read more

January 4, 2011 Italy's solar market is going into overdrive in the fourth quarter, setting the stage for a doubling in photovoltaic (PV) installations in 2011, as global investment flows into the country, according to the photovoltaic market research firm iSuppli, now part of IHS Inc. Read more

December 24, 2010 Advanced Energy Industries Inc., has announced the creation of two solar business units within the company effective January 1st, 2011. Read more

December 21, 2010 Market research specialist, The Information Network, reports that equipment used to manufacture photovoltaic cells will grow 34% in 2010. Read more

December 21, 2010 As we are sucked inexorably into the vortex that will become 2011 perhaps it is time to declare EE Times Europe Power Management’s Top 10 most popular news stories of 2010. The results are based on the news stories that were accessed by EE Times Europe Power Management’s readership since January 1, 2010. Read more

December 17, 2010 International solar energy market research and consulting company, Solarbuzz, reports global photovoltaic demand was 4.0 GW in Q3’10 and up 107% on one year earlier. Total industry revenues for the quarter were $17.9 billion, up 74% on the same quarter last year. Read more

December 17, 2010 Concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) systems supplier, Circadian Solar, has achieved a temperature-corrected peak module aperture efficiency of 30% during trials at its test site in Lisbon. The efficiency result continues to be reproduced with a number of different modules over the course of the trials. Read more

December 15, 2010 Six partners from the semiconductor and solar industries are joining forces in the NEULAND project funded by Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to explore new avenues for the efficient use of electricity from renewable sources. NEULAND stands for innovative power devices with high energy efficiency and cost effectiveness based on wide bandgap compound semiconductors. Read more

December 7, 2010 National Semiconductor Corp. has released the company’s SolarMagic MYPVDATA Solar Operations Center (SOC) which is software as a service (SaaS) developed to help users analyse data collected from the array by delivering meaningful information through an easy-to-use web-interface, so maximum energy can be harvested. Read more

December 3, 2010 Sanyo Component Europe GmbH is claiming the world’s highest cell conversion efficiency of 21.6% for a crystalline based PV module. The company’s HIT N Series 240-W module is currently undergoing commercialisation and plans for the module to on sale in Europe from early 2011. Read more

December 2, 2010 The new Solarbuzz PV Equipment Quarterly report shows that according to its PV book-to-bill analysis in Q3’10 (ending 30 September), the PV Book-to-Bill ratio fell after an eight-quarter high during Q2’10, to a three-month average of 1.16. Read more

November 26, 2010 A £4.4 million solar energy project led by Glyndŵr University could create more than 50 new jobs in North Wales, UK, and provide a breakthroug in bringing affordable renewable energy to thousands of homes. Read more

November 26, 2010 Market analyst, IMS Research reports that the global market for solar inverter shipments grew by 50% in Q3’10 to reach 7.3 GW which represents another record quarter for the industry that earlier peaked at 5 GW the previous quarter. Read more

November 24, 2010 Solar3D, Inc., the developer of a 3-dimensional solar cell technology to maximize the conversion of sunlight into electricity, has filed a patent application for its innovative solar cell design and methods of fabrication. Read more

November 10, 2010 Silicon foundry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) has approved capital appropriations of $1.88 billion for various fab efforts. It also approved a capital spending plan for a new solar unit in Europe. Read more

November 9, 2010 Market analysis from IMS Research forecasts that pricing pressure for solar modules will result in a growing share of production taking place in Asia as suppliers seek to drive down PV module manufacturing costs. Read more

November 5, 2010 Market analyst, IMS Research, is forecasting that inverter capacity will be ramped past 30 GW in 2010 and inverter production may exceed actual demand by more than 2 GW in Q4'10 leading to large inventory build. Read more

November 4, 2010 Vishay Intertechnology, Inc., has released a new 600 V, 47 A n-channel power MOSFET with ultra-low maximum on-resistance of 0.07 Ω at a 10 V gate drive and an improved gate charge of 216 nC in the TO-247 package. The SiHG47N60S’s 15.12 Ω-nC gate charge times on-resistance, a key figure of merit (FOM) for MOSFETs used in power conversion applications, is the industry’s lowest for this device type. Read more

November 4, 2010 STMicroelectronics has released details of a patented high-efficiency circuit and dedicated optimized power components. The company says the new technology will produce cost savings while helping designers comply with the highest power-efficiency standards. The new circuit and power components are ideally suited for boost or buck converters, which are power devices that are usually used in solar inverters or SMPS (Switched-Mode Power Supplies) for computers and telecom equipment. Read more

November 1, 2010 New market  analysis from IMS Research indicates that US thin film PV producer First Solar continued to lose ground in Q3'10. Read more

October 26, 2010 Good Energies and NIBC Infrastructure Partners have reached an agreement with German solar integrator Q-Cells SE to acquire solar PV plants Finsterwalde II and Finsterwalde III located in Brandenburg, Germany. Read more

October 20, 2010 New market analysis from IMS Research points to the utility-scale PV market being set to surge next year, growing five-times faster than the rest of the industry. Read more

October 20, 2010 Solar Frontier has signed an agreement to jointly develop thin-film solar cell technology with IBM based on the elements copper, zinc, tin, sulfur, and selenium (CZTS). Read more

October 19, 2010 Concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) systems supplier, Circadian Solar has appointed Hans-Juergen Cramer as the company’s chairman. The strategic appointment comes as Circadian Solar moves towards volume manufacture of its CPV systems. Read more

October 19, 2010 SoloPower, Inc., a California-based manufacturer of flexible, thin film solar cells and modules has become the first solar company to obtain certification to both IEC (61646 and 61730) standards and UL 1703 standards for flexible, thin film CIGS modules. The accomplishment enables SoloPower to sell flexible, lightweight CIGS modules in Europe in addition to North America. Read more

October 12, 2010 STMicroelectronics has unveiled an innovation for solar panels aimed at allowing more of the energy from each cell to reach the power grid. The innovation replaces the simple bypass diode with an intelligent device that enhances efficiency and offers the same package outline. Read more

October 12, 2010 South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. and France's Saint-Gobain will jointly build the largest thin-film solar cell plant in South Korea. The companies will each invest 110 billion won ($99 million) in the plant for a total of $198 million. This partnership will take the form of a 50-50 joint-venture, called Hyundai Avancis. Read more

October 11, 2010 Quarterly manufacturing capacity added during Q3’10 has broken through the GW barrier for the first time and driven PV equipment spending to a new quarterly high, according to the newly released data from market analysts, Solarbuzz. Read more

October 8, 2010 National Semiconductor Corp., and Green Energy Solar (GESOLAR) have announced that samples of GESOLAR smart panels featuring National Semiconductor’s SolarMagic chipset and incorporating HUBER+SUHNER junction boxes are now available. Read more

October 7, 2010 Spire Semiconductor LLC, a subsidiary of Spire Corp., claims to have produced a world record efficiency concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) solar cell. The 0.97-cm-square cell was measured by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to have a peak efficiency of 42.3 percent. Read more

October 5, 2010 Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd., the world’s largest producer of crystalline silicon solar panels, to develop “smart panel” technology, is collaborating with National Semiconductor Corp. to incorporate National Semiconductor’s SolarMagic power optimizer chipset into Suntech solar panels to improve the power output of solar systems. Read more

October 4, 2010 Linear Technology has unveiled the LTM8061 and LTM8062, the first devices in a new family of complete system-in-a-package uModule chargers, supporting an output charge current up to 2 A. Read more

September 29, 2010 A team of McGill University researchers in Canada have now reported how to visualize and study the process of energy transport along one single conductive polymer molecule at a time. The new technique could become a key step towards bringing new applications to market based a wide range of products including TV displays, solar cells, and biomedical sensors. Read more

September 27, 2010 According to the results of the new UK PV Market 2010 report published by market analysts, Solarbuzz, the solar photovoltaic (PV) feed-in tariff (FIT) program introduced by the United Kingdom in April 2010 has catapulted the UK into the mainstream of global PV market activity. Read more

September 27, 2010 Canada and a number of European countries including the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, France and the U.K. are gearing up subsidies for photovoltaics. The new efforts will surpass subsidies offered by Spain and Germany that generated a gold rush from 2007-2010, said Vishal Shah and analyst with Barclays Capital Clean Technology in a report released Friday (Sept. 24). Read more

September 9, 2010 Carbon nanotubes studded with phospholipid disks enable solar cells to perform self-repairing operations similar to plants performing photosynthesis. The resulting photoelectrochemical solar cells are claimed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers to be twice as efficient as the best solid-state solar panels. Read more

September 8, 2010 AEG Power Solutions (AEG PS) has unveiled its new Thyrobox PI power system for the first time at the 25th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (Feria Valencia, Valencia, Spain,).  The company claims the system will set new efficiency standards in polysilicon production. Read more

September 6, 2010 At the 25th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference (Valencia, Spain), imec unveiled several large-area silicon solar cells with a conversion efficiency above 19%. Two types of cells were realized namely with Ag-screen-printed contacts and plated Cu-contacts. Efficiencies of cells with screen-printed contacts were up to 19.1% whereas 19.4% was obtained with Cu-plated contacts. Read more

September 2, 2010 Sanyo Component Europe GmbH is claiming to have surpassed its own efficiency record with the launch of the company’s new HIT-N235SE10 PV module that offers a 21.1% cell efficiency with a module output of 235 W. The new module implements Sanyo’s heterojunction with intrinsic thin-layer (HIT) technology which features a thin mono crystalline silicon wafer surrounded by ultra-thin amorphous silicon layers. Read more

August 27, 2010 Crystalline PV module supplier Suntech, has shipped more modules during the second quarter of 2010 than any other company according to the latest analysis from market analyst, IMS Research. Read more

August 26, 2010 Low-power MPT612 solution from NXP targets wide range of MPPT applications using solar photovoltaic cells, fuel cells NXP IC provides 98 percent-efficient power extraction in solar PV applications Read more

August 23, 2010 Market analyst, IMS Research is forecasting solar microinverters and DC-DC power optimizers will generate more than $1.5 billion in revenues over the next five years. Read more

August 17, 2010 Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation and Prism Solar Technologies are collaborating in a three-year, USD190,000 research and development project to test the effectiveness of solar panels using Prism Solar's patented holographic film. The two companies will install, monitor and compare three solar systems of equal peak power ratings, each using a different design: a holographic solar system with bi-facial cells (Prism's optimized module design), a holographic solar system with mono-facial cells, and a conventional crystalline silicon solar system. Read more

August 16, 2010 Global shipments of solar inverters reached 4.9 GW in Q2’10, growing by 284 percent, according to a new report published by research analysts, IMS Research. Read more

August 16, 2010 LDK Solar, manufacturer of multi-crystalline solar wafers, polysilicon and PV products, was invited by the Anhui Provincial Government to invest in a world class solar cell and module facility in Hefei High-Tech Industrial Development Zone in order to establish a renewable energy manufacturing hub in the Province. The facility will include a total annualized capacity of 1.0 gigawatt of crystalline-based solar cells and 500 megawatts of solar modules, and production is expected to commence in the second quarter of 2011. Read more

August 13, 2010 International Rectifier has released a new online Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) selection tool that enables design optimization in a wide range of applications including motor drives, uninterruptable power supplies (UPS), solar inverters, and welding. Read more

August 13, 2010 Major swings in inventory levels for solar cells are resulting in ''perilous'' market conditions--a move that could drive ''unaware companies'' out of the market, according to iSuppli Corp. Read more

August 12, 2010 Research undertaken by Gartner, Inc. and the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) has revealed that utilities are becoming increasingly interested in procuring photovoltaic (PV) solar power generation systems and PV is one of the leading technologies considered for near-term renewable energy by utilities. Read more

August 10, 2010 Suntech Power Holdings announced preliminary financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010, and discloses it has been restructuring operations at its Shanghai facility to focus on the manufacture of crystalline silicon solar cells. Read more

August 4, 2010 The Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) solar sector is poised for rapid expansion after years of being confined to niche markets reports GTM Research. The research analyst finds that BIPV players are experiencing demand for a new array of BIPV solar components. Read more

August 4, 2010 Global photovoltaic (PV) systems installations will grow 43 percent next year to 20.2 gigawatts, despite concerns about reduced incentives for solar offered by governments, according to the latest forecast by market research firm iSuppli Corp. Read more

August 3, 2010 Electronics recently unveiled the world's first solar-powered air conditioner as part of its "green" energy initiative. Over the next five years, the South Korean company will promote energy efficiency across all it business groups, including solid-state lighting. Read more

July 30, 2010 Sharp Corporation is planning to double its annual production capacity for crystalline solar cell modules to 500 MW at Sharp Manufacturing Company of U.K. (SUKM), its production base located inWrexham, Wales, UK. Read more

July 22, 2010 Market analyst, IMS Research's new report warns that the PV industry's future is not all bright from Q4'10 and shipments will decline by close to ten percent quarter-on-quarter in Q1'11.  The warning comes despite PV module shipments forecast to increase for six consecutive quarters since Q1'09. Read more

July 21, 2010 Researchers at New Energy Technologies developing the company‘s proprietary SolarWindow technology are claiming scientific and technical breakthroughs and plan to unveil a working prototype of the world's first-ever glass window capable of generating electricity in a matter of weeks. Read more

July 20, 2010 Fairchild Semiconductor has released a 150 V MOSFET with low RDS(ON) (17 mOhm MAX) and an optimized Figure of Merit (FOM) to bring high efficiency, lower power dissipation and less heat in a 5 mm x 6 mm MLP footprint. The FDMS86200 offers efficiency and output power in LED lighting, solar and industrial designs. Read more

July 15, 2010 Market research analyst, Solarbuzz, reports that the pace of the European solar photovoltaic (PV) market in the first half of 2010 was dominated by the impending mid-year incentive tariff reductions in Germany and conditioned by the lower module pricing that emerged through 2009. Read more

July 12, 2010 For the fifth consecutive quarter PV module shipments have been on the increase according to market analyst, IMS Research's latest quarterly report on the solar cell and module market.  In Q2'10 the shipments rose to 3.7 GW, generating 7.1 billion US Dollars in revenues. Read more

July 9, 2010 Solar-Fabrik AG has entered into supply agreements with JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd., a leading manufacturer of high-performance solar power products. Read more

July 8, 2010 Manufacturer of solar wafers and PV products LDK Solar Co. Ltd has signed a contract to supply solar modules to the Power Systems division of Italy-based ABB SpA, a subsidiary of ABB Group. Under the terms of the agreement, LDK Solar will deliver 13 megawatts (MW) of solar modules to ABB in the third quarter of 2010. Read more

July 7, 2010 Market analyst, Solarbuzz reports that the Asia Pacific photovoltaic markets are poised to make a significant contribution to global photovoltaic (PV) market growth in 2010 following improvements in the policy environment in most of the key countries in this region. Read more

July 5, 2010 TDK-Lambda is adding further models to the company’s Genesys 3.3 kW and 5 kW compact 2U format programmable power supplies to increase application reach. The new models offerhigh efficiency, flexibility and reliability and complement existing models in the Genesys 1U, 2U, 3U and Half-Wide portfolio that covers power ratings from 750 W to 15 kW. Read more

June 30, 2010 PREMO is launching a new EMC filter for PV installations which allows EMC standards compliancy for an entire PV system, prevents premature panel aging and reduces installation volume. Read more

June 30, 2010 UK-based QuantaSol Ltd, the independent designer and manufacturer of strain-balanced quantum-well solar cells is restructuring as it readies for volume manufacture. Read more

June 28, 2010 The California Instruments MX Series AC / DC Power Source from AMETEK Programmable Power is now available with a power sink option (SNK) that reduces the total energy consumed in the production testing of grid-tied inverters designed for distributed resources such as solar energy systems. Read more

June 21, 2010 Siemens Energy has received an order from Italy for a photovoltaic plant with a peak output of 15 megawatts (MW). The customer is Ital Green Energy, a subsidiary of the Marseglia Group. The San Donaci solar power plant located in the Apulia region is to be connected to the Italian grid by late 2010 and will then supply clean electricity to around 5,500 Italian households. Besides plant design and engineering, Siemens will provide inverters, transformers, medium-voltage equipment as well as the monitoring and control system, and will also erect the plant. Read more

June 17, 2010 Continuing to expand into new markets, silicon foundry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) appears to have made its formal entry into the solar business. Read more

June 17, 2010 The organizers of Intersolar, Solar Promotion International GmbH and Freiburg Management and Marketing International GmbH, and SEMI PV Group, organizers of SOLARCON, have finalized arrangements for their latest collaboration, Intersolar China / SOLARCON China 2011. The event takes place from March 15-17, 2011 in Shanghai, China and expects over 200 exhibitors and more than 25,000 trade visitors. Read more

June 10, 2010 At Intersolar Europe in Munich, Germany, Huber+Suhner AG, a global supplier of components and systems for electrical and optical connectivity, is unveiling its next-generation of solar junction boxes featuring National Semiconductor's SolarMagic power optimization technology. Read more

June 10, 2010 National Semiconductor Corp., has been working with Green Energy Solar (GESOLAR), a leading provider of solar energy products and services, to develop GESOLAR brand modules with embedded SolarMagic power optimization technology from National. Read more

June 9, 2010 QC Solar, a leader in manufacturing photovoltaic connecting systems, has signed a sales agreement with National Semiconductor Corp., to integrate National's SolarMagic power optimization technology into QC Solar's SmartTrack product line, including intelligent junction boxes.  Read more

June 9, 2010 A higher voltage version of the innovative LT3652 monolithic buck battery charger for modern battery chemistries has been introduced by Linear Technology Corporation. Read more

June 2, 2010 Strategic analyst for the global renewable energy industry, GTM Research has released a research note that estimates global photovoltaic cell production grew by 51 percent in 2009. Read more

June 1, 2010 National Semiconductor Corp, is hailing the advent of a new category of solar systems - “smart panels” – following the introduction of the solar industry's first in-panel SolarMagic chipset. Read more

June 1, 2010 At InterSolar in Munich, Germany (9-11 June 2010) SunSil Photovoltaic Products is planning to launch the next generation of solar PV systems for the commercial and residential markets that will increase yields for its owner by up to 30 percent. Read more

June 1, 2010 Gadot Solar Solutions and SolarEdge have reached a joint agreement for the worldwide distribution and installation of SolarEdge solar power harvesting systems. Read more

May 26, 2010 Scientists of the research center Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (FZD) in Germany have found a way to replace the amorphous or nanocrystalline silicon in thin film solar cells, which have a low efficiency, by a silicon-based nanosponge. Read more

May 25, 2010 Silicon Valley-based renewable energy consultancy, SolarVision Co. (SVC), is expanding its practice to address emerging niche areas and is adding several new energy professionals to its global team. Read more

May 24, 2010 Abengoa Solar is beginning commercial  operation of Solnova 3, a new parabolic trough technology plant located at the  Solucar Complex, Seville (Spain), following the completion of the  operation and production testing conducted over the course of three days. Read more

May 24, 2010 Israel’s BrightView Systems, a provider of in-line metrology-based process control and optimization tools for thin-film solar cell manufacturing, has received technical acceptance and deployed its InSight-M tool at T-Solar’s thin film solar factory at Ourence, Spain. Read more

May 20, 2010 Molex Incorporated has released the SolarSpec Junction Box and Cable Assemblies designed for installation on the back of mono- and polycrystalline photovoltaic (PV) solar modules. Read more

May 17, 2010 austriamicrosystems is claiming the world’s first integrated solution for voltage and current monitoring in power inverters. Read more

May 14, 2010 A new mapping system for studying photovoltaic surfaces has been developed by a group of researchers of the University of Cadiz in Spain. Read more

May 12, 2010 Circadian Solar, one of the Europe’s leading developers of concentrated photovoltaic technology, has been named 16th in a list of the top university spin out businesses, compiled by The Telegraph, one of the UK’s national daily newspapers. Read more

May 11, 2010 Diodes Incorporated have introduced new LED drivers designed to provide the simplest possible solution for driving low power high brightness LEDs from a single solar or rechargeable battery cell. Read more

May 6, 2010 Germany's SolarWorld AG is launching the culminating phase of its solar manufacturing ramp in Hillsboro, Ore. Read more

May 5, 2010 Swiss-based thin film photovoltaics (PV) manufacturing equipment provider, Oerlikon Solar, has received several key technology certifications that will help its customers bring thin film PV to market more quickly. Read more

April 30, 2010 Jeremy Leggett, a former director of Greenpeace and adviser to the UK government on renewable energies, says he believes that the UK solar photovoltaic market is set for steady growth following the introduction of the new feed-in tariffs (FIT) on April 1, 2010. Read more

April 26, 2010 Reis Robotics, a global leader in system integration, is forging an alliance with Dow Corning Corp., to promote the new Dow Corning PV-6100 Encapsulant Series. Read more

April 16, 2010 The PV inverter market saw record shipments of more than 8 GW during 2009 according to market analysts, IMS Research. Read more

April 16, 2010 A Norwegian producer of solar-grade silicon, Elkem Solar, has combined basic and applied research to develop production methods that cut costs and consume less energy than conventional silicon production. Read more

April 12, 2010 Newly connected solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in Germany rose to 1.46 GW in December 2009 which is almost three times the previous record rate of monthly connections of 0.50 GW set in November 2009. Read more

April 7, 2010 Dow Corning signed a three-year contract with imec to perform joint research on next generations of crystalline silicon solar cells. In the framework of imec's industrial affiliation program (IIAP) on silicon solar cells, Dow Corning has joined several program activities. With its silicon solar cell IIAP, imec has set up a research ecosystem with the aim to create innovative processes to fabricate the next generations of silicon solar cells. Read more

April 5, 2010 The Elgar brand TerraSAS Solar Array Simulator from AMETEK Programmable Power offers a fully integrated solution for the design, development and production testing of inverters and micro-inverters for domestic and industrial solar energy systems. Read more

April 5, 2010 New research conducted at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and North Dakota State University (NDSU) has discovered that coatings made of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are not quite as deformable as hoped and may not be suitable for use in transparent solar cell film development. Read more

April 5, 2010 Researchers with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have uncovered a new mechanism by which the photovoltaic effect can take place in semiconductor thin-films. Read more

April 5, 2010 A new technique developed by Princeton University engineers for producing electricity-conducting plastics could lower the cost of manufacturing solar panels. Read more

March 26, 2010 Electronic components distributor, Digi-Key Corporation, has signed an agreement with Sanyo Semiconductor Corporation (USA) for global distribution. Read more

March 25, 2010 Custom manufacturer of thin-film solar cells and modules, Odersun AG (Berlin, Germany) is to appoint Frank Prein as its Chief Operating Officer (COO) and member of the board of management. Read more

March 25, 2010 The SEMI Photovoltaic Group Europe has formed a new European group for crystalline solar cells. This founding group of eight crystalline solar cell manufacturers (Q-Cells, Deutsche Cell, Bosch Solar Energy, Schott Solar, Sovello, Sunways, SolarWatt/Systaic Cells and Solland) is working together in a pre-competitive environment to address the technology challenges facing the photovoltaic industry. Read more

March 15, 2010 World solar photovoltaic (PV) market installations reached a record high of 6.43 GW in 2009 with European countries accounting for 4.75 GW, or 74 percent of world demand in 2009. Read more

March 15, 2010 The collaboration between Sunways AG and the Institut fur Solarenergieforschung Hameln (ISFH) has reached a key milestone with a joint development project that aims to further increase the efficiency of silicon solar cells. Read more

March 3, 2010 A new market research study by IMS Research reports that Q-Cells International was the largest PV system integrator in 2009 having gained significant market share. Read more

March 2, 2010 NXP BV, the chip company spun off from Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV, is in talks on the possibility of converting a 6-inch wafer fab at Nijmegen, The Netherlands, to solar cell manufacture. The company does not wish to make solar cells itself but is interested in bringing a partner onto its Nijmegen site, according to CEO Rick Clemmer. Read more

February 16, 2010 A new report from market analyst, IMS Research (Wellingborough, UK) estimates the world market for PV manufacturing equipment was just more than $5 billion in 2008. Read more