Sunpower Corporation, majority owned by Cypress Semiconductor, announced that they are expanding their solar cell manufacturing plant in the Philippines (SunPower Philippines Manufacturing Ltd). About Php 27 B ($562M) is being allocated for the expansion that will increase plant capacity to 400MW. An estimated 2000 jobs will be created by the expansion.
The existing plant in the Philippines is responsible for the production of the A300 model Solar Cell of the company. The expansion was brought about by a positive forecast for the succeeding years profits which is expected to triple that of 2006 due to an increased demand for Solar Power equipment.
A brief history of the company from their site:
SunPower solar technology was developed by Dr. Richard Swanson and his students while he was Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. Financial support for Dr. Swanson’s early research was provided in part by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). In 1985 Dr. Swanson founded SunPower Corporation to commercialize high-efficiency photovoltaic cell technology for use in solar concentrators.
Original article from here
Category: Solar
January 9th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
I’m dennis of Prescon Phils., Inc. I would like to inquire regarding the per square meter power output of photovoltaic panels. This is to give me an idea for designing the electrical system of a condominium which is to be equipped with photo voltaic panels @ the roof. The electricity from these pv panels are suppose to supply common areas and during power interruptions, will act as backup power for selected loads for the condo units. I am very interrested to be informed regarding the matter. I hope that you would find some time to answer my curiousity. Thank you very much.
November 13th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Hello Dennis
In general don’t expect more than 100 Watts per square meter. And this goes for a relatively sunny location not too far from equator. And only for 6, maybe 8 hours a day for mono-crystalline cells - less for other (silicium )variants.
And don’t just expect lots of cheap energy. First and foremost try to optimize power-consumption - and only then invest in alternative sources. Else you will learn the hard way, that grid power is actually very cheap when compared to solar- and wind-power (for low-scale installations - wind being the more efficient one at both power and price).
Making your own energy is absolutely a great idea. But this involves optimization of your consumption. It is very expensive to feed inefficient appliances from solar-power! Going green is as much to save power as anything else. Being realistic is very important. Having some technical knowledge is also very good.
Beware of scammers, who will tell you how cheap and easy things are, just to sell you some books etc. They are all over the Internet.