All About Solar | Green Energy News

October 2, 2005 – Vol.10 No.28

All ABOUT SOLAR.

This week’s news...

To keep up with the growing demand for solar products Spire Solar has announced it will establish a solar module manufacturing facility at Spire’s headquarters in Bedford, Massachusetts. The facility will specialize in customized modules for the Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) market and have a production capacity of 5 megawatts per year.

The equipment for the production line had been owned by BP Solar but used in Spire’s Chicago operations. The move of production from Illinois to Massachusetts will put the facility a few steps from the company’s engineering department.

The production line will also be used to demonstrate Spire’s expertise in solar module production to prospective clients. Visit Spire at http://www.spirecorp.com/ .

Not all solar cells coming off a manufacturer’s solar production line are equal. Some cells will have a greater solar electric output than others. Discrepancies in the production process and differing materials are to blame for the variation in solar output tolerances.

Evergreen Solar has announced that the solar output of cells manufactured with the company’s proprietary String Ribbon (tm) process varies by only as much as 2 percent. At worst its cells will produce 98 percent of rated capacity. Solar electric output from cells from other companies, Evergreen says, can be as much as 10 percent less than rated capacity.

There are no international standards for cell output rating. However Germany, for instance, distributes financial incentives based on actual solar output, not rated capacity. The higher the actual solar output using better performing cells will increase the amount of the incentive. Visit Evergreen at http://www.evergreensolar.com/

Arise Technologies, a solar developer from Ontario, Canada, is in the process of growing from being a project builder to becoming a product manufacturer. The company is working with the University of Toronto to develop a new thin-film solar technology that it plans to launch commercially in 2007.

Another Canadian company says it’s ready for Arise’s new product when it comes online. Day4 Energy of Vancouver has submitted a Letter of Intent to purchase 5 megawatts of solar products from Arise as soon they’re ready to ship in 07. Visit Arise at http://www.arisetech.com/ and Day4 at http://www.day4energy.com/

GE Energy, with the corporation’s Ecomagination commitment behind the division, is beginning to show off its early accomplishments in solar. One is growing proof that solar energy can work in an urban environment.

The company has announced that a 17.1 kilowatt GE system has been installed on the newly constructed 38-story Helena residential apartment building in New York City.

Aside from 132, 110-watt GE modules on the roof, 28 custom made glass panels incorporating GE cells make up the roof of an entry canopy for the building. The project was developed by AltPOWER of New York. Visit GE Energy at http://www.gepower.com/ and AltPOWER at http://www.altpower.com/