After reducing production and costs and closing a big solar panel factory, First Solar says it’s done a better job of managing its supply and has sold out of its production through nearly the end of the third quarter of this year. Read more »
A stealthy Silicon Valley startup called TetraSun, which designs silicon solar cells, has been acquired by solar giant First Solar. It’ll be First Solar’s first commercial foray into highly efficient silicon panels. Read more »
First Solar’s stock is smoking hot on Tuesday, soaring almost 50 percent to reach almost $40 per share. That’s quite a turn around for the solar thin film leader who had such a difficult year in 2012. Read more »
Taiwan and Japan are dealing with similar energy challenges as they boost clean power production while debating the merit of nuclear power. Read more »
Solar startup Alta Devices says its achieved a new efficiency for its solar cells developed for mobile gadget makers. In a difficult year solar companies are heads down focused on boosting the efficiency of solar cells. Read more »
First Solar, one of the largest solar panel makers in the world, says it’s breaking a record for the amount of sunlight that its cadmium-telluride solar cells can convert into electricity. The improvement promises to deliver cheaper solar electricity for consumers in the long run. Read more »
By 2017, solar modules could cost below 50 cents to produce, says Lux. They are as low as 70 cents per watt now. The cost will drop partly because of manufacturing efficiencies, but also because of the efficiencies of the modules themselves. Read more »
![MiaSole_0876[1]](http://earth2tech.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/miasole_08761.jpg?w=210&h=140&crop=1)
The lack of greentech hardware success stories points to a potentially missing piece of the puzzle: a Samsung-style intense focus on manufacturing. Read more »
Selling solar panels and projects into China is notoriously tricky for American solar makers — the market is already flooded with low cost Chinese solar panels, and domestic suppliers seem to carry favor. What’s the answer? Baby steps: joint ventures and pilots seem like the way to go. Read more »
India has emerged as as a potentially huge market for solar energy development. It also is experiencing the growing pains of cultivating a new type of energy development that relies heavily on government help and faces unforeseen challenges. Read more »
First Solar generated profits for the third quarter as it marches into new markets and carries out cost-cutting measures to compete at a time when there is an oversupply of solar panels worldwide and many of its rivals have declared losses or gone out of business. Read more »
SolarCity started off as an installer of small solar electric systems on residential and commercial rooftops. It’s since moved into new lines of businesses, including the construction of solar farms for utilities. Read more »
A regional winner of the Cleantech Open hopes to win over investors with an idea of designing factory equipment to make super efficient solar cells. But given the dark clouds that hang over the solar manufacturing business, the startup will need more than luck. Read more »
SunPower was hoping this year would be better than last, but the company is forcing to do what many of its rivals have done: cut production and employees in order to reduce costs and survive. Read more »
It’s been nearly two years since First Solar announced its first deal in India. The company has made good progress in this emerging market, and it announced another, 50MW deal Monday. What it really wants to do, though, is to develop projects in India. Read more »
The U.S. government is close to finalize its rulings on a trade complaint against Chinese solar manufactures. So far, what many thought would be the fall outs from the trade complaint haven’t materialized. Read more »
Solar startup Semprius says it will open its first factory in North Carolina next week. The company makes solar modules for solar concentrating systems, which use mirrors to focus light onto solar cells. Other startups that make this type of technology have struggled in recent months. Read more »
First Solar is looking to double down on building solar projects, not just be a panel supplier, in India in the wake of the wide sweeping grid blackouts of the Summer. Read more »
Things are looking up for First Solar, at least for now, as the company announced Wednesday a big jump in sales and profits for the second quarter and touted itself as a sought-after power project developer. Read more »
California’s three large utilities are building out clean power, like solar, at a breakneck pace. They’ve got a mandate to hit by 2020, and it’s coming on fast. Read more »
The federal government hopes to ease controversy with the development of a road map that identifies 285,000 acres of public land that will make the best locations for solar energy development in six western states. Read more »
The Agua Caliente solar project in Yuma County, Arizona — which is one of the world’s largest solar panel farms — is now two thirds completed, according to the owners and developer of the project, NRG Energy, MidAmerican Solar and First Solar. Read more »
GE was set to become a major solar manufacturer when it announced a 400 MW factory in Colorado last year. Over a year later, though, it’s putting that plan on hold for 18 months or more while it works on coming up with more competitive technology. Read more »
Here is another obit of a solar startup: Abound Solar, a thin film startup which secured a $400 million federal loan guarantee to expand production, is shutting down and filing for bankruptcy, the DOE said Thursday. Read more »
Thin film solar startup NovaSolar didn’t seem to have much of a chance. It grew out of the 2009 demise of another startup, OptiSolar, but it couldn’t make it a second time around. The company filed for bankruptcy in San Jose. Read more »
It’s got dry, sunny climate and an addiction to fossil fuels, and it’s set to become a hot spot for renewable energy development, especially solar. It’s the Middle East, where countries such as Saudi Arabia subsidize electricity generation by using their own oil and where natural gas is the main source of power for United Arab Emirates. Read more »
Two months ago we asked whether utilities should invest in solar manufacturing because Pacific Gas & Electric was proposing to do just that. The answer from California regulators, who were divided over the issue, was “no” as they voted 3-2 to deny the request on Thursday. Read more »
Azure Power will be building one of India’s first megawatt-scale rooftop solar projects that will put solar panels on dozens of rooftops and share revenues from power sales with building owners. Read more »
Solar bellwether First Solar has two pieces of big news out of its earnings on Thursday: a new CEO with deep experience with conventional power and a new 5-year plan to transform the company into a power plant developer. Read more »
Q-Cells was once the largest solar cell maker in the world. Now the company says on Monday it’s filing for bankruptcy, which makes it the latest example of an industry turmoil that has forced many other manufactures out of the business as well. Read more »
Three environmental group on Monday filed suit against the federal government over a proposed solar farm in California, contending that the government has failed in its duty to ensure the project would not pose a significant harm to wildlife. Read more »
Solexant, a Silicon Valley solar thin film startup that once plotted to build its first commercial-scale factory in Oregon, has quietly raised a $30,000 round. Read more »
Research firm Lux Research has named the top ten global makers of solar modules — which make up solar panels — by production for 2011. Read more »
Solar thin film maker MiaSole is fighting for survival in a solar market that has seen many manufacturers shutter factories over the past year. The startup announced Wednesday that it’s raised $55 million to help it enter a new market and boost its sales staff. Read more »
Solar Frontier, the largest manufacturer of copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) solar panels, announced Wednesday that it’s shipped 13.2MW to NRG Solar, which is evolving from being a buyer of solar power projects to a developer. Read more »
It’s been painfully apparent that many of the well-funded startups building next-gen solar tech have yet to ship solar panels in any large volumes and have missed their targets. And even the folks in the solar industry are starting to take each other to task. Read more »
A 1 GW solar farm in California whose fate was in limbo for a while is finally moving forward: Solar Millennium has sold it to Solarhybrid, which will change the technology for the project from concentrating solar thermal to photovoltaic panels. Read more »
The solar industry has begun 2012 with some trepidation, with many on the warpath to cut costs and reduce output. These moves give the market a chance to reduce inventories and get production more in sync with demand. But recovery will likely come slowly. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The failure rate of developers to fulfill their renewable energy contract in California has historically been around 30-40 percent, but that failure rate is expected to come down now that utilities are seeing better prepared and managed projects — and more developers who are in the game. Read more »
Markus Beck, the former head of First Solar’s now shuttered next-gen solar tech project, is looking to keep his dream alive and develop a new process to make thin film solar panels. Given the state of the market, it could be a tough play. Read more »
