Advent Solar Arrival

Advent Solar Appoints New Chief Strategic Officer was the recent news from Advent Solar, Inc. Joining Advent Solar in June 2008, Mr. Hermann:

is responsible for the areas of Business Development and Strategy, Planning and Sourcing, as well as Advent Solar’s international growth.

Additional information about Mr. Hermann’s background and experience is available in his public LinkedIn profile.

During my Hiatus, I missed this key Advent Solar press release, With No Need for Manufacturing Unit until Next Year, Advent Solar Releases Work Force. The layoff of 68 workers was the result of the extended research, development, testing

Very High Efficiency Solar Cells at PVSC 33

[San Diego, California USA]

Dr. Allen Barnett presented an update on the Very High Efficiency Solar Cell (VHESC) program.

On Thursday morning, May 15, 2008, Dr. Allen Barnett, presented the paper, “INITIAL TEST BED FOR VERY HIGH EFFICIENCY SOLAR CELLS”, at the 33rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC 33). The paper was renamed from “Very High Efficiency Solar Cell Modules” in the abstract and three University of Delaware students were added to the paper credits as you will hear in the 18:31 minute video below. As usual, I apologize for the video quality (320x240 @ 30 frames per second) and the infernal clicks as I adjust the zoom. Download it as you prefer.

Below is the area… Read More >>

PVSC 33 Closing Session

Including Outstanding Student Papers and Presentation Winners and Honorable mentions. PVSC 33 has a record 1642 registrants.

Kicking off the closing session of the 33rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC 33) just after Noon on Friday, May 16, 2008, Conference Chair, Dr. Tim Coutts, began with a quip, thanked all the folks who helped make the conference possible, and deferred to the Student Paper Awards.

Here are the Outstanding Student Papers/Presentations recognized by PVSC 33. I’ve segmented these by Area Winners and Area Honorable mentions. The unique number (#) was assigned by PVSC 33 to identify each paper.

Paper Award Winners by Area

Area 1: Oral

Cherry Award presentation at PVSC 33

On Tuesday evening, May 13, 2008, at the 33rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC 33), the Cherry Award was presented to Dr. Masafumi Yamaguchi after introductions by Conference Chair, Timothy J. Coutts, and WILLIAM R. CHERRY COMMITTEE Awards Chair, Ajeet Rohatgi.

About the Cherry Award per PVSC 33:

This award is named in honor of William R. Cherry, a founder of the photovoltaic community. In the 1950's, he was instrumental in establishing solar cells as the ideal power source for space satellites and for recognizing, advocating, and nurturing the use of photovoltaic systems for terrestrial applications. The William R. Cherry award was instituted in l980, shortly after his death.

PVSC 33 Opens

First Solar dominates the Keynotes.

The 33rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC 33) opened on Monday, May 12, 2008, with two Keynote Sessions. Although I arrived on time for once, the conference was opened earlier than the planned 8:30AM start by Conference Chair, Dr. Timothy J Coutts.

SEIA (Solar Energy Industries Association) President Rhone Resch’s forty minute address, The US Solar Revolution, highlighted Keynote Session I. As usual, the ITC or Investment Tax Credit extensions were the focus policies. The SEIA is seeking:

• 8 year, 30%, solar ITC extension for business
• 6 year, 30%, solar ITC extension for residential (eliminate the $2000 cap)

GreenVolts at BIG Solar

Berkeley-Stanford CleanTech Conference on “Utility Scale Solar Power Generation”

The 2nd Berkeley-Stanford CleanTech Conference, BIG Solar: “Utility Scale Solar Power Generation”, took place Wednesday afternoon, May 7, 2008, at SRI International. Although the agenda included keynotes and a first panel discussion on "California's Policy Leadership", my focus was on the second panel, "Innovations in Technology", with presentations by Blog stalwarts GreenVolts and Cool Earth Solar (CES).

For GreenVolts, I will highlight updates and deltas from GreenVolts presents at Alternative Energy Innovations 2007.

For the PG&E GV1 project, the 1MW (MegaWatt) Phase 1 is now scheduled for completion by the end of 2008, one quarter later