All About Solar | Green Energy News

February 19, 2006 – Vol.10 No.48

All ABOUT SOLAR.

This week’s news...

Solar energy is clearly on a roll but is being held back by a shortage of polysilicon used to make silicon solar cells. The shortage might hold back the 20-30 percent per year growth of the solar industry for more than a year.

The long term solutions? Refine more silicon. Build more capacity to grow silicon crystals. The capacity to supply more polysilicon to the solar market is being built, but it takes time.

GT Equipment Technologies, a manufacturer of photovoltaic production equipment, and Vesuvius, a Brussels, Belgium maker of fused silica refractory advance silicon growth technology (ovens to grow polysilicon crystals) have signed a partnership agreement that will lead to inclusion of the latter company’s Zyarock(R) Solar Crucibles technology in GT’s product offering.

The partnership will also focus on research and development for the advancement of silicon crystal growing technologies to optimize material utilization and maximize wafer efficiency. Visit GT Equipment at http://www.gtequipment.com/ .

Another solution to the shortage of polysilicon is for silicon solar companies to lock in long term contracts for solar products. Long term contracts for solar producers will prove to investors or lenders that sales are nearly guaranteed thus returns on investment in production expansion will be available or loans will be paid back.

Evergreen Solar of Marlboro, Massachusetts has announced that it has entered into a $100 million, four-year supply contract with Friberg, Germany based S.A.G. Solarstrom AG. The contract is for the delivery of solar modules to be manufactured at Evergreen’s Massachusetts plant as well as the EverQ 30-megawatt facility in Thalheim, Germany. EverQ is a partnership of Evergreen, Q-Cells AG and the Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) of Norway.

Evergreen’s specialty is its proprietary String Ribbon (tm) solar wafer technology. S.A.G. Solarstrom distributes solar photovoltaic systems to corporate and private clients through a network of 70 franchise partners in Germany, Spain and Italy. Visit Evergreen at http://www.evergreensolar.com/