Showing posts with label Signet Solar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Signet Solar. Show all posts

Friday, May 29, 2009

Signet Solar, Moncada Energy Group execute definitive supply agreement

MENLO PARK, USA: Signet Solar and Moncada Energy Group announced that the two companies have executed a definitive supply agreement for Signet to supply a minimum of 7.7MWp of its Gen 8.5 thin film modules before the end of 2009 and a continued supply relationship in 2010 and beyond.

Moncada, the largest Sicilian producer of wind power (over 100MW) with projects focused in renewable energy across all of Europe, will deploy the purchased thin film modules in large solar PV farms beneath the towers of their wind farms to allow both the panels and the wind turbines to use the same infrastructure in place to collect energy for, what Moncada calls, “double-harvesting renewable energy”.

"Our deployments will be the world’s first large scale installation of certified Gen 8.5 size (2.2 m x 2.6 m) modules,” said Salvatore Moncada, CEO of the Moncada Energy Group. “We believe that using these large modules in solar farms will allow for the lowest cost structure per installed watt due to the advances Signet Solar has made in thin film technology and module efficiency, and we are excited to work with Signet over the long term.”

“We are thoroughly excited to work with Moncada Energy Group, who falls perfectly into our strategy of being the world’s leader in providing thin film PV solutions for solar farms," said Gunter Ziegenbalg, Managing Director of Signet Solar. “We believe this kind of commitment is a testament to our extremely strong quality and reliability, and our customer first approach.“

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Indian fab policy gets 12 proposals; solar dominates

Just about 10 odd days ago, I had blogged about building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV)! I had also mentioned how solar/PV will be the next big story in India, with BIPV right up there at the very top!

Well, according to a published report on India Infoline, the Indian semiconductor and fab policy has attracted 12 major proposals, worth a whopping Rs. 93,000 crores!

A Press Information Bureau (PIB) release says that the Department of Information Technology (DIT), Government of India, has set up a panel of technical experts to evaluate the proposals.

The promoters will come up to the Appraisal Committee for sanction of subsidy under the scheme once they have reached the threshold limit of investment, as indicated in the guidelines of the Special Incentive Package Scheme.

A majority of these proposals -- ten (10) -- are for solar/PV. One proposal is for a semiconductor wafer -- from Reliance Industries worth Rs. 18,521 crores, and another for TFT LCD flat panels -- from Videocon Industries, worth Rs. 8,000 crores.

The 10 proposals for solar/PV are from: KSK Surya (Rs. 3,211 crores), Lanco Solar (Rs. 12,938 crores), PV Technologies India (Rs. 6,000 crores), Phoenix Solar India (Rs. 1,200 crores), Reliance Industries (Rs. 11,631 crores), Signet Solar Inc. (Rs. 9,672 crores), Solar Semiconductor (Rs. 11,821 crores), TF Solar Power (Rs. 2,348 crores), Tata BP Solar India (Rs. 1,692.80 crores), and Titan Energy System (Rs. 5,880.58 crores).

Does the Indian solar/PV story now start making some sense? It is very much in line to become the next big success story for India after the Indian telecom story!

Evidently, Reliance Industries is the major player in all of this, having proposed both a semicon wafer fab as well as a solar/PV fab. Lanco Solar, Solar Semiconductor, Signet Solar, Videocon, and PV Technologies are some of the other big players proposing to enter the Indian semiconductor/fab space.

Well, this is really great news for the Indian semiconductor industry! Further, it comes close on the heels of the announcement of the 3G spectrum policy and MNP policy by the government of India.

A few weeks ago, Dr. Madhusudan V. Atre, president, Applied Materials India, had mentioned that taking the solar/PV route was perhaps, a practical route for India to enter manufacturing. How true are those words!

Late June, I too had proposed, among others points, that Karnataka (and other Indian states) look at having some solar/PV fabs.

Dr. Pradip K. Dutta, Corporate Vice President & Managing Director, Synopsys (India) Pvt Ltd had also mentioned late June that it was too early to write off the Indian fab story. We now have the answer to that question of having fabs in India!

All of this should also excite those investors looking to enter India. The huge interest and subsequent proposals for solar/PV can also lead to India having some of its own solar farms as well!

The India Semiconductor Association should be congratulated for having made this happen. It is soon going to a year since the Indian government had announced the semiconductor policy. Now, with these mega proposals in place, maybe, we will see more investors in the Indian semicon and solar/PV fab spaces.

Top 10 Indian semicon companies review
Another interesting thought! Last year, around this time, I had prepared a list of the Top 10 Indian semiconductor companies. This particular blog has been among the most accessed.

Perhaps, a review is in order! Besides, several Indian players are beginning to make a mark, like Cosmic Circuits, SemIndia, etc. The list of August 2007 mostly had Indian design services companies. This feature of Indian design services companies dominating a top 10 list will probably continue for some more time, till all of these proposals bear fruit into concrete, productive fabs.

I am sure, with those mega investments coming into the Indian semicon wafer IC fab and solar/PV fabs, most of the companies would soon figure in any top 10 list!

Surely, 2009 should be quite exciting as all of this means a very positive future and outlook for the Indian semiconductor industry.