Gearing up for 'West'

As the semiconductor manufacturing equipment industry revs up for the year’s biggest U.S. conference – Semicon West in San Francisco, July 16 to 20 – so too is the solar/photovoltaic (PV) market, which happens to be one of the key themes at the conference along with high-k technology, and test.

Yesterday, PV equipment supplier GT Solar inked a $39.5 million contract to sell polysilicon reactors and converters to China-based Jiangsu Shunda Electronic Materials and Technology. GT Solar’s reactors and silicon tetrachloride converters are to be installed at Shunda’s facility near Nanjing, China, and are meant to allow Shunda to produce silicon feedstock for PV cells.

I also read that the largest solar power project in the Lone Star state is being planned – and the interesting part is that the $1.35 million solar energy project will install a 200-kilowatt array of solar panels atop a 67,000 square-foot former warehouse facility being adapted for office, retail and residential use. The project is expected to generate about one-quarter of the building’s total energy needs, and just as significant, will allow San Antonio’s city-owned power utility CPS Energy to test the viability of a solar energy application in a large, real-world commercial application.

Looks like Greece is going solar too: Athens-based Sprout Development said it is working to establish solar parks within Greece.

Rick Walchuk, president and CEO said, “With our corporate mandate to source opportunities in the solar space it was a natural fit for the company to explore the establishment of solar parks here in Greece. We have completed extensive research into the viability of solar parks and have concluded that this venture offers Sprout an excellent opportunity to access European Union and Government of Greece incentives established for the development of solar power. We are in the final stages of completing our business plan for this venture and will have more information available after our Annual General Meeting which will be held June 21.”

Back here in California, Akeena Solar said it is now generating the equivalent of power for 200 households with its $2.2 million project at the Air National Guard Armory in Fresno, which was just completed.

The project generates 300 kilowatts of electricity, the equivalent of what would be used by 200 households. Akeena installed 566 solar panels to generate the power.

Finally, Signet Solar said it plans to establish significant thin-film solar module manufacturing capabilities in India, following plans disclosed last month for a manufacturing and development plant in Dresden, Germany.

Signet Solar said its first production line in India will have a capacity of 60-megawatts; expanding to 1-gigawatt in annual production over the next 10 years.

Dr. Prabhu Goel, chairman and founder of Signet (and no stranger to the semiconductor industry) said the company is “convinced that India is ideal for manufacturing the world’s lowest cost solar modules. With its manufacturing prowess and vast need for energy, we consider India key to bringing Clean Affordable Renewable Energy, via thin film solar modules, to our customers.”

–Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor