Solar ♦ news digest
Strategic Technologies Practice adds, “We remain convinced that data consumption and GaAs content in handsets will increase, but fluctuations in the global economy will put a damper on network and consumer spending.”
First Solar to electrify rural communities in India
The pilot project in the Uttarakhand state will provide safe drinking water and irrigation using First Solar’s cadmium telluride modules
First Solar and Sir Ratan Tata Trust plan to collaborate on a pilot project to provide safe drinking water and irrigation to rural communities in India’s northern Uttarakhand state.
Many remote villages of the middle Himalayas lack basic infrastructure such as roads, health facilities, schools and electricity. In Uttarakhand, even many villages that are connected to the electrical grid receive only erratic electrical service. In the absence of electric pumps, collecting water from spring sources and carrying it to villages-a job that usually falls to women-can take three to four hours a day.
Through its charitable giving program, First Solar has joined forces with the Sir Ratan Tata Trust to develop a pilot project using First Solar’s advanced, thin-film photovoltaic (PV) CdTe modules to help off- grid villages in the region receive a reliable supply of clean energy for essential needs such as safe drinking water and irrigation. The aim of the pilot project is to develop an integrated solution that is low-maintenance and simple for the communities to install, maintain and use.
The pilot project, which will be managed under the Trust’s Central Himalayan programme (Himmotthan Pariyojana) by the Himmotthan Society, will consist of two solar PV power plants which will be built in the Chureddhar and Chham (Gunogi) districts, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand. If successful, the pilot project could be replicated across hundreds of villages throughout India.
Ganesh Neelam, Development Manager, Sir Ratan Tata Trust, welcomed the support and contribution of First Solar. “We thank First Solar for partnering
with us for the installation of this system, which will help us meet our community development goals,” he says.
Anant Naik, First Solar’s Director of Public Affairs in India, adds, “We welcome the opportunity to join with the Sir Ratan Tata Trust and the Himmotthan Society. They share our commitment to sustainable development, to harness solar energy to provide safe drinking water in order to improve the quality of life for rural households.”
The Sir Ratan Tata Trust is one of India’s oldest philanthropic organisations. For more than a century, it has provided grants and partnered with organizations that engage in innovative and sustainable initiatives and have the potential to make a visible difference.
Sir Ratan Tata Trust’s programme in Uttarakhand has focused on providing rural communities in the region with affordable, long-term solutions for livelihood enhancement and resource management. This pilot would complement on-going livelihood enhancement work by the Sir Ratan Tata Trust and field partners through community institutions.
First Solar will donate 100 modules to the pilot project, which will combine First Solar PV modules with water pumps to move water from spring sources into storage tanks in order to provide the village with a safe and convenient water supply. The project will benefit 65 households with a population of 530 individuals in the two villages.
Plansee improves sputtering performance for CIGS production
The firm has introduced a new inner diameter coating which enables CIGS manufacturers to increase sputtering performance in monolithic molybdenum targets
Plansee’s new coating prevents direct contact between the target material and cooling water during the sputtering process.
The firm will present its “upgraded rotary target” at the EU PVSEC in Frankfurt.
October 2012
www.compoundsemiconductor.net 93
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131