First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR | PowerRating) and China Guangdong Nuclear Solar Energy Development Co., Ltd. (CGN SEDC) today signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on the development of Phase 1 of the previously announced solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in Ordos, Inner Mongolia. The agreement represents an important step forward for the Ordos project, following First Solar's MOU with the Ordos Government in September, 2009, and the Chinese government's recent approval of the pre-feasibility study for Phase 1 in September 2010. First Solar President Bruce Sohn and CGN SEDC President Han Qinghao signed the MOU at a ceremony in Beijing today.
Under the terms of the MOU, First Solar and CGN SEDC will work together to execute the 30 MW AC first-phase demonstration project. CGN SEDC will be the majority project owner and operator, performing the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) functions for the project. First Solar will supply its advanced thin-film solar PV modules to the project and will support CGN SEDC with EPC and O&M advisory services.
"First Solar is honored to be working on the Ordos project with CGN SEDC, a company with demonstrated leadership, expertise and experience. We look forward to working together to make the Ordos project a reality and to contributing to China's renewable energy goals and market development," said Sohn.
"We are very pleased to be partnering with First Solar, a global leader in solar PV technology, in developing the first significant solar project to adopt advanced thin-film technology in China," commented Han Qinghao.
The Ordos project represents the first large-scale solar collaboration between China and the United States and an example of China-U.S. bilateral cooperation on renewable energy.
About First Solar, Inc.
First Solar manufactures solar modules with an advanced semiconductor technology and provides comprehensive photovoltaic (PV) system solutions. The company is delivering an economically viable alternative to fossil-fuel generation today. From raw material sourcing through end-of-life collection and recycling, First Solar is focused on creating cost-effective, renewable energy solutions that protect and enhance the environment. For more information about First Solar, please visit http://www.firstsolar.com.
About China Guangdong Nuclear
Solar Energy Development Co., Ltd. of China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (CGN SEDC) was established in August 27, 2009. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group, CGN SEDC focuses on solar power investment, construction, operation and maintenance, and is actively involved in related industries. By the end of 2010, CGN SEDC completed construction of solar facilities capable of producing 20MW, and is currently in the process of constructing facilities with a capacity of 70 MW. For more information about CGN-SEDC, please visit http://www.cgnsedc.com.cn.
For First Solar Investors
This release contains forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The forward-looking statements in this release do not constitute guarantees of future performance. Those statements involve a number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, including risks associated with the company's business involving the company's products, their development and distribution, economic and competitive factors and the company's key strategic relationships and other risks detailed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. First Solar assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this press release or with respect to the announcements described herein.
SOURCE: First Solar, Inc. and CGN SEDC
China
Huang Xue
+8610-5816-2555
Xue.Huang@bm.com
or
First Solar, Inc.
United States
Alan Bernheimer
602-414-9361
media@firstsolar.com
or
Europe
Brandon Mitchener
+49-6131-1443-399
media@firstsolar.com
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
New Solar Idea in Asia
Japanese highway companies may rent space to solar panel makers and power producers to reduce the road operators’ debt, the Daily Yomiuri newspaper reported, without saying where it got the information.
The plan will focus on sparsely populated areas along the 9,000-kilometer (5,590-mile) national network, the report said. Companies renting the space may include solar panel makers Sharp Corp., Toshiba Corp. and Kyocera Corp., as well as Japan’s power companies, according to the newspaper.
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry hopes to introduce by 2012 a system where electricity companies buy the full amount of renewable energy, including solar, produced by households and corporations, the report said.
Editors: John Viljoen, Clyde Russell.
To contact the reporter on this story: Stuart Biggs in Tokyo at Sbiggs3@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net.
The plan will focus on sparsely populated areas along the 9,000-kilometer (5,590-mile) national network, the report said. Companies renting the space may include solar panel makers Sharp Corp., Toshiba Corp. and Kyocera Corp., as well as Japan’s power companies, according to the newspaper.
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry hopes to introduce by 2012 a system where electricity companies buy the full amount of renewable energy, including solar, produced by households and corporations, the report said.
Editors: John Viljoen, Clyde Russell.
To contact the reporter on this story: Stuart Biggs in Tokyo at Sbiggs3@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Solar Company to Wisconsin
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle today announced that W Solar Group Inc. will receive up to $28 million in Enterprise Zone tax credits from the Department of Commerce) to establish a manufacturing facility in Wisconsin and locate its corporate headquarters and research and development facilities in Dane County.
The company expects to create about 620 jobs between its headquarters, R&D and manufacturing facilities. The project represents a capital investment of more than $300 million.
The U.S. and international solar markets are expected to grow rapidly in the years ahead. Wisconsin is a national leader in solar installations. Among the companies the Department of Commerce has assisted are Cardinal Glass, 5NPlus, PDM Solar, ZBB Technologies and Helios.
“W Solar Group was attracted to Wisconsin early in our search for a project location,” Chris Hamrin, president and chief executive officer W Solar Group Inc., which will move to Wisconsin from Chatsworth, Calif. “We are impressed with the high quality workforce, extensive supply chain, and the commitment to producing world-class products. Making Wisconsin our home is the right decision, and W Solar’s goal is to be a great addition to the Wisconsin economy. Wisconsin’s role as a leading manufacturing state with hard-working people also contributed to our decision to make the Badger State the place to grow our company.”
The company has made a commitment to purchase materials and services from Wisconsin suppliers in an effort to create or retain additional jobs.
W Solar Group has a highly efficient technology for producing thin film solar panels on a large scale and at a lower cost than its competitors. The projected global market for solar panels will increase more than tenfold over the next decade, and the company anticipates about half of its production will be exported to overseas markets.
“I am really happy to announce the state will provide $28 million in Enterprise Zone tax credits to help W Solar establish a manufacturing facility in Wisconsin and create more than 600 jobs,” Doyle said. “W Solar choosing to locate its manufacturing facility in Wisconsin is a testament to the hard work we’ve done over the past eight years to build a strong sector of our economy around clean energy and high end manufacturing. This investment will create new business opportunities and jobs at suppliers throughout the region.”
Doyle has used the Enterprise Zones credits to help retain and create jobs at Quad/Graphics, Bucyrus
The company expects to create about 620 jobs between its headquarters, R&D and manufacturing facilities. The project represents a capital investment of more than $300 million.
The U.S. and international solar markets are expected to grow rapidly in the years ahead. Wisconsin is a national leader in solar installations. Among the companies the Department of Commerce has assisted are Cardinal Glass, 5NPlus, PDM Solar, ZBB Technologies and Helios.
“W Solar Group was attracted to Wisconsin early in our search for a project location,” Chris Hamrin, president and chief executive officer W Solar Group Inc., which will move to Wisconsin from Chatsworth, Calif. “We are impressed with the high quality workforce, extensive supply chain, and the commitment to producing world-class products. Making Wisconsin our home is the right decision, and W Solar’s goal is to be a great addition to the Wisconsin economy. Wisconsin’s role as a leading manufacturing state with hard-working people also contributed to our decision to make the Badger State the place to grow our company.”
The company has made a commitment to purchase materials and services from Wisconsin suppliers in an effort to create or retain additional jobs.
W Solar Group has a highly efficient technology for producing thin film solar panels on a large scale and at a lower cost than its competitors. The projected global market for solar panels will increase more than tenfold over the next decade, and the company anticipates about half of its production will be exported to overseas markets.
“I am really happy to announce the state will provide $28 million in Enterprise Zone tax credits to help W Solar establish a manufacturing facility in Wisconsin and create more than 600 jobs,” Doyle said. “W Solar choosing to locate its manufacturing facility in Wisconsin is a testament to the hard work we’ve done over the past eight years to build a strong sector of our economy around clean energy and high end manufacturing. This investment will create new business opportunities and jobs at suppliers throughout the region.”
Doyle has used the Enterprise Zones credits to help retain and create jobs at Quad/Graphics, Bucyrus
Monday, December 27, 2010
New Solar Technology Mimics Plant Life
A prototype solar device has been unveiled which mimics plant life, turning the Sun's energy into fuel.
The machine uses the Sun's rays and a metal oxide called ceria to break down carbon dioxide or water into fuels which can be stored and transported.
Conventional photovoltaic panels must use the electricity they generate in situ, and cannot deliver power at night.
Details are published in the journal Science.
The prototype, which was devised by researchers in the US and Switzerland, uses a quartz window and cavity to concentrate sunlight into a cylinder lined with cerium oxide, also known as ceria.
Ceria has a natural propensity to exhale oxygen as it heats up and inhale it as it cools down.
If as in the prototype, carbon dioxide and/or water are pumped into the vessel, the ceria will rapidly strip the oxygen from them as it cools, creating hydrogen and/or carbon monoxide.
Hydrogen produced could be used to fuel hydrogen fuel cells in cars, for example, while a combination of hydrogen and carbon monoxide can be used to create "syngas" for fuel.
It is this harnessing of ceria's properties in the solar reactor which represents the major breakthrough, say the inventors of the device. They also say the metal is readily available, being the most abundant of the "rare-earth" metals.
Methane can be produced using the same machine, they say.
Refinements needed
The prototype is grossly inefficient, the fuel created harnessing only between 0.7% and 0.8% of the solar energy taken into the vessel.
Most of the energy is lost through heat loss through the reactor's wall or through the re-radiation of sunlight back through the device's aperture.
But the researchers are confident that efficiency rates of up to 19% can be achieved through better insulation and smaller apertures. Such efficiency rates, they say, could make for a viable commercial device.
"The chemistry of the material is really well suited to this process," says Professor Sossina Haile of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). "This is the first demonstration of doing the full shebang, running it under (light) photons in a reactor."
She says the reactor could be used to create transportation fuels or be adopted in large-scale energy plants, where solar-sourced power could be available throughout the day and night.
However, she admits the fate of this and other devices in development is tied to whether states adopt a low-carbon policy.
"It's very much tied to policy. If we had a carbon policy, something like this would move forward a lot more quickly," she told the BBC.
It has been suggested that the device mimics plants, which also use carbon dioxide, water and sunlight to create energy as part of the process of photosynthesis. But Professor Haile thinks the analogy is over-simplistic.
"Yes, the reactor takes in sunlight, we take in carbon dioxide and water and we produce a chemical compound, so in the most generic sense there are these similarities, but I think that's pretty much where the analogy ends."
The machine uses the Sun's rays and a metal oxide called ceria to break down carbon dioxide or water into fuels which can be stored and transported.
Conventional photovoltaic panels must use the electricity they generate in situ, and cannot deliver power at night.
Details are published in the journal Science.
The prototype, which was devised by researchers in the US and Switzerland, uses a quartz window and cavity to concentrate sunlight into a cylinder lined with cerium oxide, also known as ceria.
Ceria has a natural propensity to exhale oxygen as it heats up and inhale it as it cools down.
If as in the prototype, carbon dioxide and/or water are pumped into the vessel, the ceria will rapidly strip the oxygen from them as it cools, creating hydrogen and/or carbon monoxide.
Hydrogen produced could be used to fuel hydrogen fuel cells in cars, for example, while a combination of hydrogen and carbon monoxide can be used to create "syngas" for fuel.
It is this harnessing of ceria's properties in the solar reactor which represents the major breakthrough, say the inventors of the device. They also say the metal is readily available, being the most abundant of the "rare-earth" metals.
Methane can be produced using the same machine, they say.
Refinements needed
The prototype is grossly inefficient, the fuel created harnessing only between 0.7% and 0.8% of the solar energy taken into the vessel.
Most of the energy is lost through heat loss through the reactor's wall or through the re-radiation of sunlight back through the device's aperture.
But the researchers are confident that efficiency rates of up to 19% can be achieved through better insulation and smaller apertures. Such efficiency rates, they say, could make for a viable commercial device.
"The chemistry of the material is really well suited to this process," says Professor Sossina Haile of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). "This is the first demonstration of doing the full shebang, running it under (light) photons in a reactor."
She says the reactor could be used to create transportation fuels or be adopted in large-scale energy plants, where solar-sourced power could be available throughout the day and night.
However, she admits the fate of this and other devices in development is tied to whether states adopt a low-carbon policy.
"It's very much tied to policy. If we had a carbon policy, something like this would move forward a lot more quickly," she told the BBC.
It has been suggested that the device mimics plants, which also use carbon dioxide, water and sunlight to create energy as part of the process of photosynthesis. But Professor Haile thinks the analogy is over-simplistic.
"Yes, the reactor takes in sunlight, we take in carbon dioxide and water and we produce a chemical compound, so in the most generic sense there are these similarities, but I think that's pretty much where the analogy ends."
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Arizona Solar Project Gets Fed OK
The first solar power plant in the United States capable of storing its own energy will service around 70,000 consumers in Arizona, the energy secretary said.
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced his department provided solar energy company Abengoa Solar with a $1.45 billion loan guarantee to build what's described as the largest solar power plant of its kind in the world.
"As today's announcement and other recent announcements of completed loan guarantees for wind and solar projects demonstrate, the department's loan program is gaining momentum, creating jobs in communities across the country while putting us on the path to a clean energy future," the secretary said in a statement.
The facility will produce enough energy to meet the demands of 70,000 households, the Department of Energy said.
The project company said the 250-megawatt facility "will include six hours of molten salt thermal energy storage capability, which will allow energy to be dispatched as needed during cloudy periods and after sunset."
Neither the Department of Energy nor Abengoa Solar gave any indication as to when the project would go commercial or when development would start.
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced his department provided solar energy company Abengoa Solar with a $1.45 billion loan guarantee to build what's described as the largest solar power plant of its kind in the world.
"As today's announcement and other recent announcements of completed loan guarantees for wind and solar projects demonstrate, the department's loan program is gaining momentum, creating jobs in communities across the country while putting us on the path to a clean energy future," the secretary said in a statement.
The facility will produce enough energy to meet the demands of 70,000 households, the Department of Energy said.
The project company said the 250-megawatt facility "will include six hours of molten salt thermal energy storage capability, which will allow energy to be dispatched as needed during cloudy periods and after sunset."
Neither the Department of Energy nor Abengoa Solar gave any indication as to when the project would go commercial or when development would start.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Nevada Solar Project Gets OK to Proceed
A solar energy project that will generate enough electricity for 75,000 homes in Nevada has been approved by the federal government.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project in Nye County is the ninth large-scale solar facility approved by the Obama administration in an effort to encourage renewable energy development on public lands in the West.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says construction of the 110-megawatt plant will create up to 500 jobs. Once finished, it will employ 50 in operations and management positions.
The project 13 miles northwest of Tonopah was proposed by Solar Reserve's Tonopah Solar Energy of Santa Monica, Calif.
It will encompass about 2,200 acres on land administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project in Nye County is the ninth large-scale solar facility approved by the Obama administration in an effort to encourage renewable energy development on public lands in the West.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says construction of the 110-megawatt plant will create up to 500 jobs. Once finished, it will employ 50 in operations and management positions.
The project 13 miles northwest of Tonopah was proposed by Solar Reserve's Tonopah Solar Energy of Santa Monica, Calif.
It will encompass about 2,200 acres on land administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Lancaster Baseball Going Solar
Some teams shoot for the moon. The Class A Lancaster JetHawks are targeting the sun.
Based in Lancaster, Cal. a city gunning to become known as the Alternative Energy Capital of the World, the JetHawks broke ground this week on a solar panel project designed to fulfill 98 percent of the energy needs at 14-year-old Clear Channel Stadium and save a projected $48,000 annually.
The JetHawks, an affiliate of the Houston Astros, are installing 1,500 4-by-6-foot solar panels atop a carport that is nearly 700 feet long. The concept is designed to store sunlight for use at night games at the 4,600-seat, city-owned ballpark. The project is expected to be completed this month.
Lancaster, a community of 146,000 in northern Los Angeles County, is planning the installation of solar energy devices at several other municipal facilities, including city and its performing arts center.
Clear Channel Stadium will be the first minor-league baseball stadium in California to go solar.
"Things like this take it out of the fringes and into the mainstream," Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parries told the Los Angeles Daily News. "It becomes an American ideal when the ballpark is operated by solar energy."
But while they're at it, they might want to look at harnessing wind energy as well.
The JetHawks ballpark is most famous for high winds, which routinely blow 40 mph during night games and can add 30 or more feet to the distance of fly balls.
By Seth Livingstone
Based in Lancaster, Cal. a city gunning to become known as the Alternative Energy Capital of the World, the JetHawks broke ground this week on a solar panel project designed to fulfill 98 percent of the energy needs at 14-year-old Clear Channel Stadium and save a projected $48,000 annually.
The JetHawks, an affiliate of the Houston Astros, are installing 1,500 4-by-6-foot solar panels atop a carport that is nearly 700 feet long. The concept is designed to store sunlight for use at night games at the 4,600-seat, city-owned ballpark. The project is expected to be completed this month.
Lancaster, a community of 146,000 in northern Los Angeles County, is planning the installation of solar energy devices at several other municipal facilities, including city and its performing arts center.
Clear Channel Stadium will be the first minor-league baseball stadium in California to go solar.
"Things like this take it out of the fringes and into the mainstream," Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parries told the Los Angeles Daily News. "It becomes an American ideal when the ballpark is operated by solar energy."
But while they're at it, they might want to look at harnessing wind energy as well.
The JetHawks ballpark is most famous for high winds, which routinely blow 40 mph during night games and can add 30 or more feet to the distance of fly balls.
By Seth Livingstone
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