Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
A solar prominence unfurls in this image of extreme ultraviolet light emitted by He ions (source: NASA; http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap081004.html)
It is always sunrise somewhere on our spinning sphere, and the sun is always changing too (see figure). There are always ups and downs in our world, and we learn to “make hay while the sun shines.” Where has the sun been shining lately? Photovoltaic (PV) and MEMS industries have continued to grow lately, as have the fortunes of companies suppplying technologies to these lines.
Steven Chu, the new U.S. Energy Secretary, is reportedly scrambling to hire experienced staff to help him spend tens of US$ billions in alternative energy stimulus dollars. The twin goals are to stimulate the economy in general, and to develop new technologies that could lead to energy independence. On March 20th, Solyndra announced that it is the first company to receive an offer for a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Solyndra will use the proceeds of a $535 million loan from the U.S. Treasury’s Federal Financing Bank to expand its solar panel manufacturing capacity in California.
The guaranteed loan, expected to provide debt financing for approximately 73% of the project costs, will allow Solyndra to initiate construction of a second solar panel fabrication facility (Fab 2) in California. On completion, Fab 2 is expected to have an annual manufacturing capacity of 500 megawatts per year. Solyndra estimates that the construction of this complex will employ 3,000 people, the operation of the facility will create over 1,000 jobs, and hundreds of additional jobs will be created for the installation of Solyndra PV systems, in the U.S.
BetaSights recently visited Xactix in Pittsburgh, PA, and the MEMS OEM reports booming business for Xenon difluoride (XeF2) chemical vapor etch (CVE) systems. The rumor mill in Silicon Valley reports that GlobalFoundries is hiring staff. Though Global Foundries’ major fab is in Dresden, Germany, and major funding is in Abu Dhabi, the spin-out’s headquarters is in Sunnyvale, California so that’s where the new staff will likely sit. More about sunrises in this week’s BetaSights Newsletter.—E.K.