German International School of Silicon Valley goes Phoenix Solar

[Mountain View, CA USA]

German Parliamentary State Secretary Ulrich Kasparick inaugurates donated 18kWp Photovoltaic system

On Thursday, October 4, 2007, the German International School of Silicon Valley (GISSV) celebrated the inauguration of their new roof mounted and grid connected 18kWp (kiloWatt-peak) Photovoltaic (PV) system together with Invest in Germany, Mr. Ulrich Kasparick, the German Parliamentary State Secretary of Transport, Building, and Urban Development, Manfred Stolpe, former Premier of Brandenburg and Federal Minister, the GISSV community, Friends of GISSV, and invited guests.

The GISSV students and staff scooped the story, Photovoltaic system has been initiated with a photo slideshow, and Phoenix Solar covered the press release angle with Phoenix Solar AG builds a photovoltaic plant for the German school in California (Deutsch). In this German language video clip with Bernd Kohlstruck, Vice President Wind Business, Xantrex Technology, speaking, the PV system is initiated in a ceremonial “switch on” by dignitaries, company representatives, GISSV Principal Maja Oelschlägel, and GISSV President Christian Buchbauer.

Phoenix Solar AG (FRA:PS4) ($80,000) and Xantrex Technology Inc. (TSE:XTX) ($10,000) led a company consortium to donate the Photovoltaic system to the GISSV. First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) supported Phoenix Solar perhaps by assuring swift module supply or did they also donate modules? Blue Oak Energy, Inc. provided consulting services, and I think Borrego Solar Systems, Inc. provided licensed California installation services.

Dr. Murray Cameron, Chief Operating Officer, Phoenix Solar AG, said:

With the support of the German International School, we have been able to gather experience in the turnkey construction of PV systems in the US which we are using to prepare our entry into the attractive US market.

After musical performances by two age groups of GISSV students, Mr. Kasparick addressed the reception in a speech (Deutsch) about climate change, renewable energy, and Eastern Germany as a center of excellence for solar and photovoltaics research, development, and production.

This PV project was kicked off 5 weeks ago on August 29, 2007, when German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited GISSV and, along with other school initiatives, witnessed the donation of the PV system by Phoenix Solar and Xantrex.

The PV system is expected to produce 28,000 kWh (kiloWatt-hours) of annual electricity or about one third of the school's annual demand and consists of 250 First Solar FS Series PV Modules and four (4) Xantrex inverters (GT 5.0 Grid Tie Solar Inverters?). Looking at the spec table for the First Solar FS modules, I get a theoretical system capacity of 17.5kWp for 250 FS-270 70Wp (Watt-peak) modules and 18.125kWp for 250 FS-272 72.5Wp. Was this system capacity rounded or are different power modules on separate strings in the implementation?

I ribbed Phoenix Solar earlier this year in Solar Photovoltaic company Rebrandings hit new High after they announced the name change from Phönix SonnenStrom AG to Phoenix Solar AG. I praise them for giving back to the world community with the PV system donation to GISSV.

This was a unique event for me since I attended in the dual role of Photovoltaic Blogger and dual US citizen (by birth) and German citizen (Deutscher seit 2001) putting those German language skills, at least listening, to good use.

Solar Light Flashes: Intersolar 2007

[Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany]

Quick Photovoltaic News and Fun Tidbits from Intersolar 2007

Company News

SunPower (Stand No 10.2.83, NASDAQ:SPWR): SPR-315 delayed again!
Since I posted Where is the SunPower SPR-315 Solar Module?, SPR-315 deliveries have been rescheduled for Fall 2007, almost one year since the product was announced at Solar Power 2006. A company spokesperson indicated the delay may be related to filling backlog for legacy SPR solar modules. I prefer the conspiracy theory that the new Gen 2 solar cells or the larger module form factor is the root cause. SunPower claims to be taking SPR-315 orders now, and there is already a preorder backlog.

Schott Solar (Stand No F4.2.09): I caught their press conference when they rounded up press folks from the press room today. Schott Solar has plans to expand silicon solar cell and module production to 450MWp per year capacity by 2010. When I asked about silicon feedstock, Schott Solar had no announcement yet about silicon supply to drive this production level. As mentioned here last year, Schott Solar’s EFG (Edge-defined Film-fed Growth) process requires granular polysilicon.

Izusu Glass Co., LTD. (Stand No 9.3.33): Concentrators are red hot! Izusu Glass has a stand at Intersolar 2007 promoting their Fresnel lenses, Compound Parabolic Concentrators (CPC), molded high accuracy lenses, and Cylinder and Micro Lens Arrays for solar and concentrating photovoltaic applications.

Category leaders
Battle of the Booths (Stands): Oerlikon.
Oerlikon Solar (Stand No 10.2.13) beats Applied Materials (Stand No 10.1.36) without breaking a sweat. In fact, Applied Materials is at the top of my list for most boring booth, an honor I awarded to Conergy AG last year in secret. Here are the photos. You decide.

Best Green Giveaway: Phoenix Solar (Stand No 4.4.27).
Phoenix branded apples in the press room are about as green as swag can be.

Most over used moniker: Solar Valley.
Starting at the Intersolar press conference, numerous regions are claiming this progressive renewable energy tag. BSW (Bundesverbandes Solarwirtschaft, Stand No F4.3.61) claimed the country Germany is one big solar valley. The Investitions- und Marketinggesellschaft Sachsen-Anhalt mbH (Stand No 6.3.22) and SAVOIE - Agence Economique de la Savoie (Stand No 7.2.55) also invoked the Solar Valley name at Intersolar. Ms. Cherpin, Directrice Commerciale, pitched a strong case for SAVOIE as a natural valley worthy of the Solar moniker.

Solar Jewelry: Tie between Solarschmuck Claudia Kohm (Stand No F2.5.02) and SolArt (Stand No F2.4.02). A slight edge goes to Frau Kohm who is working through the show with her husband’s help after an accident involving her mouth and neck. I didn’t pry for details. As an extra, Solarschmuck offers custom lapel pins with company logo treatments. One time setup charges range from €100 to € 300 with € 6 to € 9 per piece pricing.

Best Promotion: SOLON AG (Stand No 4.5.47) partnering with VECTRIX Corp.
I bumped into GAME OVER CO2 walking to Starbucks in Freiburg Altstadt after the PV Industry Forum 2007. Solon set up a demonstrator electric scooter photovoltaic recharging station at Platz der alten Synagoge and offered test drives to licensed motorcycle drivers. The CO2 folks were in character and denied their role in global warming. These mega CO2 molecules are nasty but easy to spot unlike odorless and colorless carbon dioxide gases.

Best advertisement: SOLAR-KABEL GmbH (Stand No F3.1.01).
Yes, there does appear to be an artistic approach to making cables exciting. I have requested the electronic version of this ad. The above is a mediocre photo of the poster. I also noticed this ad in the 00 issue of Photovoltaik. This one reminds me of the Claudia Schiffer post.

There is a bluespot gap at Intersolar 2007. Outside of the press room, I have been using an unknown, unsecured WiFi connection available at Freiburg’s Starbucks to post my articles.

Solar Photovoltaic company Rebrandings hit new High

Are commercials at the Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup, and Superbowl next?

I had just noticed a few solar photovoltaic company rebrandings earlier this week when I read the Phönix SonnenStrom AG (FRA:PS4) Annual General Meeting news on the DGAP ad hoc service (English, Deutsch). Heavens Goethe, Phönix SonnenStrom has decided to rename the company Phoenix Solar AG and change their internet address to www.PhoenixSolar.com (not active at post time and old logo shown). There is already a Chinese company, Taizhou phoenix solar Co., Ltd., parked at http://www.phoenixsolar.net/.

Number two on the list is Evergreen Solar Launches Broad New Branding Campaign with an expensive multicolored logo and Think Beyond. tagline shown above to the left. The timing for this Evergreen Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESLR) branding campaign was after the ill received Evergreen Solar Announces First Quarter 2007 Results and about one month before Evergreen Solar Announces Public Offering of Common Stock and Evergreen Solar Announces Pricing of Public Offering of Common Stock at $8.25 per share.

Completing the trio is ersol with new corporate design. ersol Solar Energy AG (FRA:ES6), a company known for its thriftiness, has also gone the rainbow colored logo route with the tagline ersol. Right from the start. The new logo shown left above has been rolled out across the ersol Group business segments as ersol Silicon, ersol Wafers, ersol Solar Cells, and ersol Modules. And yes, I noticed the new ersol branding while researching an Oerlikon Solar post about ersol Thin Film GmbH.

In the end, I believe solar photovoltaics is a commodity industry. If times get tough in the years ahead, these multicolored logos could be the first victims of aggressive corporate cost cutting measures.

I am thinking about jumping into the rebranding game. Maybe I should change the red and black GUNTHER Portfolio logo to orange and gray? Or perhaps green and gray? I will need to discuss this with my business card printer doing business as the Canon PIXMA iP1500. Even if my company name were in German, I would favor a dual language logo with Chinese translation a la Suntech Power instead of selling out my native tongue.

(Full disclosure: I still own some shares of ESLR stock).
Of course, all logos are the property of their respective holders.