GLG News by Photovoltaic/Solar Cells and System Experts

Nearly two hundred years of cheap and plentiful energy supplies, delivery and use are threatening to come to a volatile end.  Environmental issues aside, rising demand, scarcer supply and a paradigm shift to renewable energy models are upsetting the apple cart.  This has shaken many traditional...

Micron announced last week that its newly named sensor business, Aptina, will run as an independent division within Micron. The divsion will have independent sales, marketing and profit-and-loss functions in order to be more "responsive to the market." Aptina employs about 700 people...

Extension of present US federal solar and wind incentives hang in the balance.  Failure to extend to 2009 will at the least cause disruption in the renewable energy market and, if the lapse goes long in 2009, a significant setback that would take years to recover and further cement the US reputation...

Now that most photovoltaic projects are financed by performance, it has to demonstrate that it can generate electricity at a predictable level for decades.  Familiar PV technologies like crystalline have passed this test, as have the more mature thin film applications.  The announcement of...

As the wind power industry grows and matures, attacks on the technology have heightened like the tall towers the turbines rest upon.   One of the  more rational arguments concerning wind power is its inherent intermittent generation, which limits its contribution to the grid.  Commercial...

The main component of the Texas problem was the inability of conventional generation to deliver when the wind fell off.  Predictions of future windpower are becoming highly reliable, even up to 30 hours.  The Texas drop off was as predicted, but backup plants failed. Further, the entire US...

The photovoltaic feedstock industry has been generally upbeat in being able to expand polysilicon production.  A balance of supply with growing demand could mean wafer, cell and module price declines.  However, production has to come on line and logistical and problems are cropping up...

The Japanese photovoltaic market has been ailing as of late.  Their great initiative of 1993-2004 resulted in hundreds of thousands of residential-scale installations, making PV approachable in cost-effectiveness to Japanese residential rate payers.  But since then, a lack of political...

The global wind power industry continues its remarkable growth with over 20,000 megawatts (MW) of new capacity in 2007.  This raises the global installed capacity to over 90,000 MW.   The sheer numbers demonstrate wind powered electricity becoming statistically significant in world consumption,...

Concern that global photovoltaic market growth can falter in 2009 may be alleviated by growing markets such as Canada. The Canadian market, primarily Ontario, is being driven by the Ontario Power Authority's Standard Offer Program.  Over 300 Megawatts of photovoltaic projects are in the...