Martifer arranca com projecto de 150 milhões de euros na Bélgica
A empresa portuguesa Martifer inicia em Outubro a montagem de parques de painéis solares para produção de energia eléctrica na Bélgica (...) com a duração de três anos, prevê uma capacidade total de produção de electricidade de 30 MW.

EDP congela projectos espanhóis de energia solar
A EDP congelou os três projectos de energia fotovoltaica que estavam previstos para Espanha, o maior dos quais contemplava, para uma potência instalada de cerca de 50 MW, um investimento de 200 milhões de euros, a realizar na região de Saragoça. Mas a eléctrica nacional não é a única a rever a sua estratégia. Apesar de garantir que os projectos actualmente em curso não estão em risco, a Martifer admite reajustar os seus objectivos para este mercado. Já a BP Solar ameaça, segundo a imprensa local, cancelar o investimento fotovoltaico em Espanha. O mesmo acontecendo com os alemães da Goldbeck Solar, especialistas em instalações de coberturas solares.

Spain eases plan to slash subsidy for solar power
Spain has decided to ease proposed sharp cuts in a generous subsidy scheme to solar power producers in one of the world's hottest markets, Energy Secretary Pedro Marin said on Tuesday.
Marin said the proposed limit on total capacity of new solar power panels entitled to subsidies in 2009 will be 500 megawatts, which compares to an earlier draft proposal to set the cap at 300 MW. (...) Industry groups say that the new cap is still too low, as it will be absorbed by an estimated 300-400 MW of ground-based plants that are already under construction, but will miss the deadline for the current subsidy scheme.

Spain expects 3,000 MW in solar plants by 2010
Spain's government said its new and less generous subsidy scheme, due to take effect shortly, foresees solar power plants reaching a capacity of 3,000 megawatts by 2010, or about double the present total. (...) [Industry Minister Miguel] Sebastian said the new subsidies would still be at least 25 percent above the highest rate recently set in Germany, which receives 20 percent less sunlight than Spain.

Início das aulas de Energia Solar Fotovoltaica
É já na próxima terça feira. Começam as aulas de Energia Solar Fotovoltaica (ligação para a cadeira só para alunos... por enquanto) na Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, no âmbito do Mestrado Integrado em Engenharia da Energia e do Ambiente. A cadeira pretende oferecer uma panorâmica geral sobre fotovoltaico, desde os fundamentos da radiação solar e da física das células solares, métodos de caracterização e as várias tecnologias, projecto de sistemas PV e até um módulo de tópicos avançados, onde discutiremos mais detalhadamente alguns assuntos da 'moda', como silício metalúrgico para aplicação solar, concentração solar e novos conceitos.

Suniva Produces Record Screen Printed Solar Cells with 20%+ Efficiencies
Suniva Inc., a manufacturer of high value crystalline silicon solar cells [spinoff from Georgia Tech], today announced that its R&D team has developed several silicon solar cells in its lab with over 20% conversion efficiencies using a patented combination of simple cell designs and screen printing technologies. (...) represent a world record for screen printed cells and incorporate advanced design features that boost power output from the cell. For example, Suniva can create a higher sheet resistance emitter as well as enhanced surface passivation dielectrics in a single high tempeature step. Suniva produces narrower screen‐printed contacts on the front of the cell and a high‐quality surface reflector on the back. These components, combined with improved texturing methodologies, allow Suniva to trap light and achieve high efficiencies while keeping costs low.

Tecnologia da WS Energia vai ser produzida em fábricas da Solar Monkey
A empresa portuguesa WS Energia e a norte-americana Solar Monkey assinaram, sexta-feira, um acordo com vista a produzir nos Estados Unidos uma nova geração de seguidores solares de alta precisão, elevada fiabilidade e baixo custo com base na tecnologia patenteada e galardoada da WS Energia. O acordo vai permitir desenvolver unidades fabris nos Estados Unidos, com base na tecnologia de seguimento actualmente produzida e comercializada na Europa pela empresa nacional.

New Method Cuts Waste In Making Most Efficient Solar Cells
The new method for slicing [germanium] solar cell wafers – known as wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) – wastes less germanium and produces more wafers by cutting even thinner wafers with less waste and cracking. The method uses an extremely thin molybdenum wire with an electrical current running through it. (...)The process is slow. Wire electrical discharge machining takes 14 hours to cut a single wafer. Bamberg says the electrified wire method has to be done gently to avoid cracking the germanium, but he hopes to increase the speed to the six hours it now takes to cut a wafer using a wire saw.

Prometheus thin film report:Thin-Film Solar Set to Take Market Share From Crystalline Solar PV

Thin-film solar production is expected to double in each of the next three years to reach 4.18 gigawatts worth of equipment in 2010, according to a report to be released by Greentech Media and the Prometheus Institute on Tuesday. (...) Most of the new companies are developing amorphous-silicon films on glass, which (...) has the lowest barriers to entry because companies can buy "turnkey" manufacturing equipment from suppliers such as Applied Materials and Oerlikon.

(...) They expect cadmium telluride, which had the highest production in 2007, to remain the most common thin film to be produced this year before being overtaken by amorphous silicon. Cadmium-telluride films, which have been popularized by No. 1 thin-film manufacturer First Solar, will end up as a niche technology adopted by only a few companies, they wrote, although First Solar will remain a significant player in the industry.

Meanwhile, copper-indium-gallium-diselenide technologies – also known as CIGS–- "[remain] the most exciting, but also the most elusive," according to the report. Grama and Bradford predict that 2009 will be a breakout year for the technologies.

EU Set to Cut Biofuel Target
A European Parliament committee is scheduled to vote Thursday on a proposed biofuel target that would require less than 6 percent of all transportation fuels to come from food-based biofuels by 2020. The 6 percent target represents a major reduction from the 10 percent mandate contemplated by EU lawmakers earlier this year, reported Reuters Wednesday.

Dyesel developing and commercialising next generatiion solar panels for buildings
Major Italian Corporations ERG Renew (ERG Group) and Permasteelisa, are to enter into the development and industrial production using Dyesol materials and technologies of DSC panels (Dye Solar Cells) (...) The Universities of Rome Tor Vergata, Ferrara and Turin will be partners in the project which will undertake the industrial research phase. Universita Roma Tor Vergata recently purchased a prototype facility from Dyesol and a team from the University is currently training at Dyesol's Australian Headquarters. (...) On completion of the development and first stage production facility, ERG Renew and Permasteelisa will produce and market these next-generation panels which based on cost, efficiency and durability are forecast to set a new industry benchmark being more competitive than the traditional silicon technology products. (...) about $75 value of DSC materials in every square metre of product.

Aprovado investimento em células fotovoltaicas
O Governo aprovou hoje uma resolução para classificar como "interesse estratégico" um investimento em Vila do Conde, na área das energias renováveis, que está avaliado em 99,7 milhões de euros (...) O ministro da Presidência, Pedro Silva Pereira, referiu, no final da reunião, que o investimento na área da energia solar será feito pela "Itarion Solar" e visa a produção de células fotovoltaicas. "O projecto prevê a criação de 200 pontos de trabalho, dos quais 142 com qualificação superior. É mais um projecto de investimento em Portugal na área das energias renováveis e que conta com a experiência da Quimonda, empresa de referência neste domínio", declarou o ministro da Presidência.

What's next for German PV industry?
Germany's solar industry has been given a boost after the government said it would scale back the feed-in tariff for solar electricity by only 9-10 percent each year until 2011 much less than the 30 percent scale-back that some industry experts had predicted. (...) According to the German solar magazine Photon, solar power could end up costing Germans €77 billion in higher tariffs by 2010 assuming that solar electricity generates 2 percent of the country's total electricity by then, and some critics have said the costs are not in relation to the performance. (...) In 1999, the extra costs to consumers were €19 million; in 2005, €506 million; and in 2008, the cost is expected to €1 billion. The costs could grow even higher in the coming decade because households with solar panels are guaranteed a fixed income for 20 years for surplus electricity sold to the national grid. (...) According to the Rheinisch Westfälischen Instituts für Wirtschaftsforschung (RWI), every job created in the solar industry costs €128,900 in subsidies and every ton less of carbon emissions costs €900, indicating that solar electricity might be the least efficient and most expensive way of tackling climate change.

Workshop Energia Solar no Física 2008
Nos dias 1 e 2 de Setembro estivemos na Física 2008, uma organização da Sociedade Portuguesa de Física, para realizar uma workshop sobre Energia Solar onde se falou sobre sustentabilidade energética e energia fotovoltaica em particular. Os formandos vieram para o exterior para medir curvas características de painéis solares, testar associações de módulos e até montar um pequeno carrinho solar de cartão.