Nov 20 2008
PennWell Corporation, a diversified global media and information company, announced today that it will launch Photovoltaics World magazine to address the rapidly growing global photovoltaic solar cell manufacturing industry. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine will be published in March 2009. PennWell also announced two new Photovoltaics World Exhibitions, to be held in the U.S. and Europe in 2010, in conjunction with the company's existing Renewable Energy World Conferences + Exhibitions.
By 2020, about 50,000 megawatts (50 gigawatts) worth of photovoltaic (PV) systems will be installed annually, up by a factor of nearly 20X from 2,538 megawatts in 2007. By 2010, as many as 400 production lines in the world that can produce at least 1MW of PV cells per year will be in place, representing a fourfold increase from about 90 to 100 production lines in 2007.
Photovoltaics World is a natural extension of the coverage of the photovoltaics/solar cell industry by several PennWell brands, including Solid State Technology, Renewable Energy World, Laser Focus World and Power Engineering. "PennWell is in a unique position among publishing companies in that we already have strong brands devoted to renewable energy, photonics and solid-state devices," said Robert F. Biolchini, PennWell president and CEO. Biolchini added that PennWell's Technology Group based in Nashua, New Hampsire under Christine Shaw, senior vice president, will manage the Photovoltaics World magazine launch. "Photovoltaics technology is all about bandgap engineering and looking for ways to increase cell efficiency and reduce manufacturing costs," said Peter Singer, Editor-in-Chief of Solid State Technology. "Many of the latest advances have come from applying know-how originally developed for semiconductor manufacturing, and we expect to see more of the same."
In addition to a bimonthly print magazine, the Photovoltaics World launch will include a dedicated Website and a weekly newsletter, PV Times. Coverage for a planned circulation exceeding 20,000 readers will focus on solar cell design and manufacture, including cells made of multi-, mono- and nano-crystalline silicon, amorphous thin-film silicon, cadmium telluride, copper indium diselenide (CIS) and GaAs. Multijunction cells and concentrator technology will also be covered.
"With the PV industry poised for strong growth, Photovoltaics World magazine will be a great addition to PennWell's renewable energy starting lineup," said Richard Baker, vice president of PennWell's North American Power Generation Group based in Tulsa. "Photovoltaics World magazine will be a perfect fit with PennWell's Renewable Energy World Conference & Expo, Renewable Energy World magazine and Renewable Energy World.com Web site, further enhancing our role as the world's #1 renewable energy network."