Solar Light Flashes: 24th EU PVSEC Edition

Select Photovoltaic News Tidbits from the 24th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition.

It's been like forever (1 year, 8 months, 10 days) since my last Solar Light Flashes. I've always planned to resurrect the haphazard post. Twitter delayed the return but sometimes 140 characters are insufficient. centrotherm photovoltaics AG (ETR:CTN) Only the Photovoltaic (PV) Industry plasters roadmaps or manufacturing costs on exhibition stand signage. The last official centrotherm CIGS (copper indium gallium diselenide) news was “Success in the thin film division: centrotherm photovoltaics achieves 13 percent efficiency for mass production”. Tom Cheyney chatted with centrotherm in “EU PVSEC short takes: Talking CIGS turnkey, eyeballing a Nanosolar panel, and more” at PV-tech.org. Read More >>

Schmid Pilot Production Topping Out

Schmid Pilot Production GmbH (SPP) celebrates topping out the Pyrolysis building. Production start on track for March 2010 of monosilane and polysilicon for the Photovoltaic (PV) industry. On July 15, 2009, Schmid Pilot Production GmbH (SPP), a wholly owned subsidiary of Schmid Silicon Technology GmbH (SST), held a topping out ceremony for their monosilane and polysilicon pilot production facility. View Schmid Pilot Production GmbH in a larger map “Schmid-Silizium feiert Richtfest” (Google English) by Mirko Kolodziej for the Lausitzer Rundschau covers the event

Sunways terminates Polysilicon and Solar Silicon efforts

Schmid Silicon Technology polysilicon production activities discontinued. Solar Grade Silicon development cooperation with Solarvalue terminated. Since I started asking Sunways AG (FRA:SWW) questions about Schmid Silicon Technology: Schwarze Pumpe production delayed until 2010, “Sunways AG: Projects with Schmid and Solarvalue discontinued” was the double shot press release issued in response Wednesday, March 25, 2009. Sunways has switched to a new polysilicon supply strategy based on a blend of long term supply contracts and spot market purchases. Sunways AG shares jumped 34.84% to €2.09 as investors welcomed the news. Schmid Silicon Technology GmbH

Schmid Silicon Technology: Schwarze Pumpe production delayed until 2010

“Schmid Pilot Production GmbH (SPP) delayed to optimize the process flow and to react on actual market conditions.” From SST at PHOTON's 7th Solar Silicon Conference As I tweeted earlier this month, Schmid Silicon Technology GmbH (SST) CEO Alexander Berg (please see “Alexander Berg wechselt zu Schmid Silicon Technology (SST)”, Google English) explained the production delay until the beginning of 2010 in his presentation, “Status of Schmid Silicon Technology and the cost potentials”, at PHOTON’s 7th Solar

Schmid Silicon Technology: Polysilicon Update

Silicon strategy covers the gamut of quartz and metallurgical silicon to polysilicon.

There has been a dearth of news regarding Schmid Silicon Technology (SST) since the Sunways AG enters polysilicon production business announcement and my Schmid Silicon Technology: From East Germany with Polysilicon post.

At PHOTON’s 6th Solar Silicon Conference on April 1, 2008, part of the Photovoltaic Technology Show 2008 Europe, Gebr. Schmid GmbH + Co. (Deutsch) representatives, Frank Tinnefeld and Jochem Hahn, presented “From sand to module – a fully vertical integrated approach for the PV Industry.”

Schmid has observed the Euro price of silicon metal has increased almost fifty percent since 2005. As a

Schmid Silicon Technology: From East Germany with Polysilicon

[Berlin, Germany]

Invest in Germany Fast Track has the Thanksgiving Day scoop

Gebr. Schmid GmbH + Co. (Deutsch), the photovoltaics (flat panel display and printed circuit board) equipment manufacturer specializing in wet chemistry and headquartered in Freudenstadt, Germany, is expanding into polysilicon production by establishing Schmid Silicon Technology GmbH in the Schwarze Pumpe Industrial Park (Industriepark) located between Spremberg and Spreewitz, Germany. Schmid Silicon plans to build 5000 MT (metric tons) of polysilicon capacity on a 30 hectare (74 acre) plot ramping in 2010 and creating up to 400 new jobs including a technology (research) center.

While I first saw this reported in the Fast Track