Neville Williams Founder, Solar Electric Light Company, Co-Founder, SELCO-INDIA, Founder and Former Chairman, Standard Solar Inc., USA "True, they don’t have any electricity and solar could provide it," John Corsi, CEO of Solarex Corporation told me in 1990, "but they also don’t have any money." We were talking about the two billion people in the […]

As the objectives of the "5 MW Solar" project had been more than met, SIG has adopted one even more ambitious goal: 8 MW of PV capacity by 2010 and 15 MW by 2015. The new objectives are supported by the following strategic initiatives: • Promotion of voluntary incentives through "SIG Vitale", • Participation in […]

Since 2004, SIG has embarked on the "5 MW Solar" project and committed itself to grow solar production in Geneva ten-fold within five years. This objective was already achieved after three years whilst most people had considered it unrealistic at the time it was started. SIG has set up a voluntary support policy with the […]

Philippe Verburgh SIG-GE, Switzerland 1. A First-Class Solar Potential The Geneva region benefits from a substantial solar resources. A study con­ducted on behalf of the Geneva State Council found that all public buildings had a total roof area suitable for PV installations of 0.7 km2; it could produce 50 million kWh per year. If one […]

Peter F. Varadi P/V Enterprises, Inc. Chevy Chase, MD, USA The successful utilization of Photovoltaic (PV) cells to supply the electric needs of satellites used for various purposes gave the idea and an assurance that PV could also be used successfully for large scale terrestrial applications. The obvious prob­lem was that at that time the […]

Today, 25 years after our fledgling start as Eos, SunPower is a billion dollar com­pany with 5000 employees and a global presence. We are proud to be part of the dynamic PV industry that is helping the world wean itself off of fossil fuel. The next decades will see continued dramatic changes in our industry […]

One of SunPower’s largest customers was PowerLight. PowerLight had pio­neered a new way to install PV panels on flat commercial roofs that involved no roof penetrations. Prior to their invention, the common wisdom was that panels should be mounted on steel frames that tilted the panels south to receive the most sun. Installing the frames […]

Big changes were afoot in the PV business as the decade progressed. The market had grown dramatically in the latter half of the 1990s driven by the Japanese rooftop incentives. The mantel would soon pass to Germany, which passed a far reaching PV incentive program called the Renewable Energy Law in 2000. Companies were expanding […]