SMA Announces Solar Inverter Plant For The USA

 

SMA announced today the development of a new solar inverter production facility in Denver, Colorado. The annual production capacity of the new facility will be around one gigawatt with an option for expansion. 
 
The new US facility will produce the Sunny Boy, Sunny Central and Sunny Island solar power inverter product lines for the North American market. The plant will become the largest production facility for solar inverters in the US. Denver will become the first international production site for SMA, which has headquarters in Niestetal and Kassel, in Germany.
 
According to Günther Cramer, Chief Executive Officer of SMA Solar Technology AG, the company expects the US market to become the largest solar market globally in the medium term. The new facility will see reductions in transportation and interim storage costs as well as currency exchange risks.
 
SMA will employ a staff of 700 in Denver and production is planned to begin around the middle of 2010. The investment for the new production line and building enhancements is estimated at around AUD 48.6 million dollars (at current exchange rates).
 
“The decision by SMA to build a production facility in Denver is excellent news for our region and will provide a welcome boost to our local economy” said Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. 
 
The SMA Group generated sales of more than AUD 1.1 billion during 2008 and employs a staff of over 3,500 globally.
 
Companies involved in the production of solar power components are increasingly setting up manufacturing operations in the USA. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Australia, which seems to have a habit of scaring off solar power investment from overseas.
 

SunPower's Mega Solar Panel Achieves Record Efficiency

 

SunPower Corp. (Nasdaq: SPWRA, SPWRB) announced today that it has achieved a world-record for a solar panel with a 20.4 percent total area efficiency.
 
The prototype was developed through funding received from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under its Solar America Initiative (SAI). The Solar America Initiative is focused on accelerating widespread commercialisation of solar energy technologies by 2015.
 
The 333-watt solar panel consisting of 96 solar cells is based on SunPower's third generation solar cell technology, offering a minimum cell efficiency of 23 percent. The solar cells are cut from a 165 mm diameter ingot and include an anti-reflective coating to improve power generation. The total panel area is 1.6 square meters, including the frame.
 
SunPower's efficiency claims were confirmed by the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), an independent testing facility.
 
The company expects to make the solar panel commercially available within the next 2 years and plans to begin operating a U.S. panel manufacturing facility in 2010.
 
The company recently experienced some very positive exposure after teams of students representing universities from Germany, Illinois and California placed first, second and third, respectively, at the 2009 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. All three winning teams used SunPower solar panels to power their homes in this competition.
 
SunPower also recently announced the availability of the SunPower T5 Solar Roof Tile (T5), the first product to combine solar panel, frame and mounting system into a single pre-engineered unit. 

SunPower has been developing solar technology since the 1970s after its co-founder, Dr. Richard Swanson, was pondering ways to deal with the oil crisis occurring at the time.
 

News for Monday 26 October, 2009

 

• Sharp Achieves 35.8% Efficiency With New Solar Cell
  


• UK Wind Power Industry Gearing Up For 60,000 Jobs
  

View all news for Monday 26 October, 2009 on one page

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