Solar Light Flashes: November 15, 2007

Select Photovoltaic News Tidbits

The Solar Light Flashes format allows me to address news or observations that don’t require a full post.

Cool Earth Solar
Cool Earth Solar (CES, http://www.coolearthsolar.com) has revamped their website and is reshaping solar energy. I heard from CEO Rob Lamkin that CES Senior Team member, Dr. Aurelius Prochazka, co-author of RailsSpace: Building a Social Networking Website with Ruby on Rails, was involved with the implementation. Back on August 24, 2007, the press release, COOL EARTH SOLAR FILES PATENTS FOR SOLAR TECHNOLOGY, demonstrates CSE efforts to protect their Intellectual Property (IP). And Cool Earth Solar in the News was nice enough to link to my post, Cool Earth Solar emerges from Stealth Mode.

GreenVolts Inc.
On Tuesday, November 27, 2007, Kevin Fine, Director of Product Development, GreenVolts, will present Solar Energy Technologies: Emphasis on Concentrating Photovoltaic Technologies, at the California PUC (CPUC) Building, Golden Gate Room, 505 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco, California USA, from Noon - 1:00 PM PST (Pacific Standard Time). This event is sponsored by the San Francisco Power Engineering Chapter of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.). Non-member cost and RSVP details are here.

RenewableEnergyAccess.com
As the Photovoltaic Blogger, reporting on the media is one of my easiest tasks. With rare exception, media never reports on the competition. While I jumped on the news of Intersolar North America 2008, RenewableEnergyAccess.com chose not to report on this significant new event but passed on this Industry Press Release, Record Early Sales of Solar Power 2008 Reflects Growth Trajectory of U.S. Solar Industry, post haste. Could it be because Solar Power 2008 is an advertiser and Media Partner?

RSI Silicon
I noticed RSI (Reaction Sciences Inc.) Silicon Products won the ICE 2007 Ignite Clean Energy Business Presentation Competition during my research into Wakonda Technologies. Per the RSI Silicon website:

Dr. Steve Amendola, along with his experienced team, has commenced building the first plant. It is envisaged that production at the 5,000 metric tonne per annum plant based in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, will commence Q2 2008.

Also notable here is:

RSI will be using low cost raw materials for processing solar grade silicon and not the Metallurgical Grade Si

even though Northampton is in rust belt steel country. I can only presume they will use a precursor with Silicon as a component unless they have developed a Silicon Replicator technology?

Here is the RSI Silicon ICE 2007 PowerPoint presentation and top Ten Finalist video by Newfangler Productions.

SunPower Corporation
On October 22, 2007, SunPower announced SunPower Names Brad Davis as Chief Marketing Officer. Towards the end of this press release, SunPower CEO Tom Werner said:

I am also pleased to announce that Peter Aschenbrenner will be assuming a new role as vice president, corporate strategy, continued Werner. In this position Peter will have responsibility for strategy, business development, and management of SunPower's product portfolio. Peter has been the primary architect of SunPower's strategy since 2003, and with three decades of solar industry experience he is uniquely qualified to help us capitalize on emerging global opportunities.

To date, I have not seen an official resolution of Peter Aschenbrenner under SEC investigation in AstroPower Saga. Could this move be a second step towards a quiet exit for Mr. Aschenbrenner from SunPower?

8. Forum Solarpraxis
I am looking forward to covering this Solarpraxis AG (FRA:SPA) event again next week on November 22-23, 2007, in Berlin, Germany. Here is the program (Deutsch). I am keen to checkout and report on this presentation:

International Solar Silicon Production – an Overview
John R. Mott, COO of Solarvalue Proizvodnja d.d., Ruse (Slovenia)

on Friday, November 23, 2007, at 14:30. I have requested access to select closed Analyst Conferences in advance to avoid a repeat of SOLON AG CEO Kicks PV Blogger Out of Analyst Conference. SOLON is not on my list.

Try entering the URL http://www.guntherportfolio.com and see where it takes you. I wonder what purpose this could serve?