EMCORE Corp. has signed a memorandum of understanding for the supply of 60 MW of solar power systems scheduled for deployment in Ontario, Canada, over the next three years.
EMCORE will supply and install turnkey solar power systems in the Sault Ste Marie area utilizing the company's concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) systems developed at its Albuquerque, N.M., facility. The project developer, Pod Generating Group (PGG), has secured the licenses and permits for the project through the Ontario Power Authority Standard Offer Program, and system deployment is expected to begin in mid 2008.
EMCORE's CPV systems are powered by high-efficiency compound semiconductor-based multi-junction solar cells that operate with 500x concentration to provide a low cost-per-watt. In August 2007, EMCORE announced that it obtained 39% peak conversion efficiency under 1000x concentration on its terrestrial concentrating solar cell products currently in volume production.
‘We are very pleased to receive the opportunity to deploy our first order of utility-scale solar power systems in support of PGG's projects in Ontario,’ says Earl Fuller, vice president and general manager of EMCORE's solar power systems division.