Hyundai to Build $181M Solar Cell Plant
Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., the world's largest shipbuilder, said it plans to invest 190 billion won (US$181M) to build a solar-cell plant, as part of efforts to diversify its revenue resources.

MIT Building Low-Cost Solar Concentrator
A team of students, led by mechanical engineering graduate student Spencer Ahrens, has spent the last few months assembling a prototype for a concentrating solar power system they think could revolutionize the field.

Hong Kong and Shenzhen to Partner with DuPont on Solar Project
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and the Shenzhen Municipal Government announced plans to establish a Solar Energy Research and Industrial Platform in collaboration with DuPont.

Surfect Appoints Financial Advisor Innovator Capital Limited
Surfect Technologies Inc. announced the appointment of Innovator Capital Limited (London, U.K.), the specialist London-based corporate finance and advisory firm.

AmberWave Acquires Caltech Spinout Aonex
AmberWave Systems has acquired Aonex Technologies Inc. and its suite of materials-integration technologies originating from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

HelioVolt Partners with Architectural Glass & Aluminum Co.
HelioVolt Corp.and Architectural Glass & Aluminum Co. (AGA) today announced a partnership to develop and manufacture building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) products.

SMA Breaks Ground on Solar-use Inverter Factory
SMA Technologie AG has broken ground on an 82,000-square-foot solar inverter manufacturing plant in Kassel, Germany. The largest of its kind on the planet, the new facility is designed to triple SMA's current production capacity to meet the global demand for its solar inverters.

Wacker Searching for New Polysilicon Site
Wacker Chemie is studying locations for a new polysilicon manufacturing facility, dubbed Poly 9, Chemical Week has learned.

Emcore Receives $28M Order for Concentrator Solar Cell Receivers
Emcore Corp. announced that it has entered into a $28M definitive supply agreement with ES System of Gwang-Ju, South Korea, for solar cell receivers to be fielded in fully licensed and funded solar farms in South Korea.

LDK Solar Signs Wafer Supply Agreement With Qimonda
LDK Solar Co., Ltd. announced that it has signed a five-year contract to supply multicrystalline solar wafers to Germany-based Qimonda AG.

Qimonda and Centrosolar Group to Jointly Manufacture Solar Cells
Qimonda AG and Centrosolar Group AG, a German solar company, today signed a contract to jointly build, equip and operate a solar cell manufacturing plant.

First Solar Tops Q1 Forecast, Sees Sunny Forecast
First Solar earned 57 cents per share for the quarter that ended March 29. Sales nearly tripled to $196.9M.

SVTC Sets Up Solar Development Endeavor in San Jose
Signaling its expansion into the fast-growing photovoltaic (PV) industry, SVTC Technologies, a leading independent semiconductor process-development foundry, has leased more than 85,000 sq. ft. in San Jose for a new PV development center and hired solar industry veteran Kurt Laetz to head up the new initiative, which will be called SVTC Solar.

First Solar Sidesteps Silicon Supply Worries
Silicon supply concerns have been affecting companies using the material to make solar cells. First Solar largely avoids the issue, since its panels are based on a proprietary technology that uses cadmium telluride.

Polycrystalline Silicon Price Predicted to go Down from 2009
The price of polycrystalline silicon, a key raw material for producing semiconductor devices and solar cells, is likely to reach its peak level in 2009 and then move downwards for oversupply, predict analysts with Greatwall Securities.

YLL K.K. Develops Solar Cell Manufacturing Method
Sataro Yamaguchi of Aichi, Japan, has developed an ingot cutting method.

Sanyo to Move Up Thin-Film Solar Cell Output
Amid a shortage of silicon supplies, Sanyo Electric Co. intends to begin mass-producing thin-film solar cells by 2010, two years earlier than initially planned.

Suntech Acquiring German Solar Plant
China's leading photovoltaic cells and modules producer Suntech Power Co., Ltd. has acquired a Germany-based manufacturer Kuttler, a Deloitte source was quoted by Shanghai Securities Journal as saying.

Scaling Down Nanotech's Trade War Potential
In framing a regulatory approach to the expected explosion in commercial nanotech applications, both European and American industry analysts say they will be sure to heed the lessons of the often-fractious debate of the past decade about a kindred sort of technology: bio-engineered food.

JA Solar Signs Wafer Supply Agreement With GCL Silicon
JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. announced today that it has signed a new long-term silicon wafer supply agreement with Jiangsu Zhongneng Polysilicon Technology Development Co., Ltd.