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HP Expands Renewable Energy Use

In an effort to cut costs and reduce the company’s carbon footprint, HP is installing a roof-mounted solar power installation at its San Diego facility and securing wind-produced electricity for its operations in Ireland. HP signed an agreement with SunPower Corp. for the installation of a 1-megawatt solar electric power system. Initial estimates indicate that the project will save HP approximately $750,000 in energy costs during the next 15 years, and allow HP earn renewable energy credits. HP will be taking advantage of incentives provided under the California Public Utilities Commission’s California Solar Initiative, which aims to increase solar energy use statewide. The international computing and printing company will not own the installation, rather it will buy the power produced from SunPower (approximately 10% of the facility’s needs) at a reduced, locked-in rate under SunPower’s AccessT program. The HP solar electric system will be financed and owned by a third-party financier. In Ireland, HP will purchase nearly 90% of it’s energy from Airtricity, a renewable energy company developing and operating wind farms across Europe and North America. Through the contract, HP will purchase more than 80 gigawatt-hours of renewable energy. It is estimated that the agreement will save HP approximately […]

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SunPower Joint Venture Opens Ingot Factory in Korea

Woongjin Energy Corp. (WJE), the joint venture between Silicon Valley-based SunPower Corporation (Nasdaq: SPWR) and Woongjin Holdings Company Ltd., will dedicate a new 46,200-square-meter solar silicon ingot pulling factory on November 28th. SunPower is purchasing approximately US$250 million of silicon ingots from the joint venture through a five-year supply agreement. Production by WJE is anticipated to grow at a rate consistent with increased polysilicon supply from DC Chemical, Korea’s largest chemical company. SunPower has contributed equity capital and technology expertise, and is selling polysilicon to WJE as well as procuring silicon ingots from them. “With the dedication of this factory, we have taken another meaningful step in expanding our supply portfolio,” said PM Pai, COO, at SunPower Corp. “We are pleased that construction on this factory was completed on time and that manufacturing has begun.” The new WJE factory is headquartered in the DaeDeok Techno Valley business park in DaeJeon City, Korea and will produce silicon ingots exclusively for solar cell production. Polysilicon for this venture will be supplied primarily from DC Chemical. All ingots produced at the factory are expected to be exported. The factory will be the largest of its kind in Korea. About SunPower SunPower Corporation manufactures […]

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Yingli Increases Silicon Ingot Capacity, Announces Silicon Purchases

Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (NYSE:YGE), one of the few vertically integrated photovoltaic (PV) product manufacturers in China, is increasing its silicon ingot furnace capacity with a $56 million investment. Yingli has placed its fourth order with GT Solar Incorporated for its DSS furnaces that grow multi-crystalline ingots up to 450kg, and is expected to bring Yingli’s installed furnace capacity to approximately 600MW in 2009. Yingli Green Energy President, LianSheng Miao, said, ” The contract will support us to ramp up our ingot capacity from current 200MW to 400MW by the end of 2008 and 600MW in 2009.” Yingli also said it has signed three polysilicon contracts with a leading polysilicon manufacturer. According to the company the total amount of polysilicon to be supplied under the contracts will allow it to produce over 40 MW of PV modules over the life of the contracts. The delivery schedule for the polysilicon under the contracts has not been finalized. Based on the discussions of the parties with respect to the contracts, Yingli says it currently expects the delivery of the polysilicon under the contracts to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2008. About Yingli Green Energy Yingli […]

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Yingli Increases Silicon Ingot Capacity

Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (NYSE:YGE), one of the few vertically integrated photovoltaic (PV) product manufacturers in China, is increasing its silicon ingot furnace capacity with a $56 million investment. Yingli has placed its fourth order with GT Solar Incorporated for its DSS furnaces that grow multi-crystalline ingots up to 450kg, and is expected to bring Yingli’s installed furnace capacity to approximately 600MW in 2009. Yingli Green Energy President, LianSheng Miao, said, ” The contract will support us to ramp up our ingot capacity from current 200MW to 400MW by the end of 2008 and 600MW in 2009.” About Yingli Green Energy Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited is one of the leading vertically integrated photovoltaic (PV) product manufacturers in China. Through the Company’s principal operating subsidiary in China, Baoding Tianwei Yingli New Energy Resources Co., Ltd., Yingli Green Energy designs, manufactures and sells PV modules and designs, assembles, sells and installs PV systems that are connected to an electricity transmission grid or those that operate on a stand-alone basis. With 200MW of total annual production capacity in each of polysilicon ingots and wafers, PV cells and PV modules, Yingli Green Energy is currently one of the largest manufacturers […]

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Sunergy Begins Commercial Production of High-Efficiency Solar Cells

China Sunergy Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq: CSUN), a specialized solar cell manufacturer based in Nanjing, China, has started mass production of its selective emitter cells. According to the company selective emitter cells produced in the first few days of mass production yielded average efficiency rates of 17.5%. The company says prior to starting mass production, it achieved 18.2% conversion efficiency on some of its pilot runs in early November. Commenting on the announcement, Dr. Jianhua Zhao, CTO of China Sunergy, said, “I am delighted that we have managed to develop and commercialize these high-efficiency cells in less than a year, and am confident that as we refocus our R&D resources we will be able to achieve similar success with other high- efficiency cell products. As we continue to optimize our selective emitter cell equipment and technology, I also believe that we should be able to achieve average efficiency rates of 18% on future commercial batches of these cells.” Dr. Allen Wang, CEO of China Sunergy said, “We will continue to drive further efficiency from these cells going into 2008 and will be adding an additional four production lines during the second-half of the year, as we look at ways to expand […]

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GE, TPI Composites Sign Agreement for Turbine Blades

In an effort to meet the growing global demand for wind turbines, GE Energy, a division of General Electric Co (NYSE: GE) has forged a deal with TPI Composites, a wind turbine blade suppliers. TPI will build a new 316,000 square foot facility in Newton, Iowa to produce blades for GE’s 1.5-megawatt wind turbines. Since 2004, GE says it has experienced a 500% increase in wind turbine production, and expects its wind business revenues to exceed $4 billion this year. TPI Composites has manufacturing sites in Warren, R.I.; Springfield, Ohio; Juarez, Mexico; and Taicang, China. With the Iowa expansion, the company will reach an estimated 1.1M square feet of manufacturing space in 2008. About GE Energy GE Energy is one of the world’s leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery technologies, with 2006 revenue of $19 billion. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, GE Energy works in all areas of the energy industry including coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy; renewable resources such as water, wind, solar and biogas; and other alternative fuels. Numerous GE Energy products are certified under ecomagination, GE’s corporate-wide initiative to aggressively bring to market new technologies that will help customers meet pressing environmental challenges. About […]

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