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Professor Martin Green, executive research director of Australia’s ARC Photovoltaics Centre of Excellence at the University of NSW, has been presented with this year’s AUD$10,000 CSIRO Eureka Prize for Leadership in Science.

Based on a strong start to the year, Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited has raised its gross margin target from an estimated range of 27 to 29 percent for this fiscal year to 28 to 30 percent. The company stated that the increase in gross margin was primarily due to the “better than expected” average selling price and continuous decline in the blended cost of polysilicon, decreasing polysilicon usage per watt and continuous reduction in non-polysilicon costs.

S.A.G. Solarstrom AG has told pv magazine in a telephone conference that it is planning to expand its international operations, following strong foreign sales for the first half of the year.

The Supervisory Board of Germany-based Conergy AG has announced that managing director and management board member Dr. Andreas von Zitzewitz’s employment with the company has ended “with immediate effect.”

Fort Recovery Construction & Equipment LLC has announced it is planning a USD$1.9 million expansion at its SolarAg division in Portland, the U.S. Under the plans, the company’s 60,000 square-foot facility for research, development and production of solar thermal collector panels will be renovated. It added that it expects to create up to 120 jobs by 2013.

A new law has been passed in Illinois, the U.S. whereby Commonwealth Edison and Ameren must begin purchasing solar energy – as part of the renewable energy portfolio requirement – by 2012 instead of 2015. Specifically, the power industry will now be required to purchase .5 percent of its power from solar sources by June 1, 2012; 1.5 percent by June 1, 2013; 3 percent by June 1, 2014; and 6 percent by June 1, 2015, and each year thereafter.

Solaire Generation has been selected to supply solar parking canopies for what it says is one of the largest solar power installations at a single commercial site in the U.S.

Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd has said that due to “booming” demand, it will expand its crystalline silicon solar cell production capacity from 1.4 gigawatts (GW) to 1.8 GW by the end of the year. The company has also increased this year’s shipment target from 1.3 GW to 1.5 GW, which is “more than double total shipments for 2009”. The news comes as it announces its second quarter (Q2) results. ?

Trina Solar (U.S.) Inc., has signed a sales agreement to supply 35 megawatts (MW) of photovoltaics solar modules this year to SunEdison, a subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. The modules are expected to be utilized by SunEdison for projects in North America and Europe.

The largest single major polysilicon production facility in Taiwan is underway following a deal between Germany-based centrotherm photovoltaics AG and Taiwan PolySilicon Corp. (TPSI). With an annual capacity of 5,000 tons, and an upgrade option of 8,000 tons, centrotherm’s subsidiary, centrotherm SiTec designed the facility.