Page 160 - ISES SWC50

1983
• Amoco bought out Solarex for $25 million.
• BP acquired final 50% of Lucas and BP Solar was formed.
• Astropower Corporation formed as Astropower Division of Astrosystems Inc.
• ARCO Solar dedicated a 6-megawatt photovoltaic substation in central California. The 120-acre,
unmanned facility supplied the Pacific Gas & Electric Company’s utility grid with enough power for 2,000-
2,500 homes.
• Worldwide photovoltaic production exceeds 21.3 megawatts, with sales of more than US$250 million.
• A Solar Trek vehicle with a 1 kW photovoltaic system drove 4,000 km in the twenty days of the Australia
Race. The maximum speed was 72 km/h and the average speed was 24 km/h. Later in the year, the vehicle
surpassed the distance of 4,000 km between Long Beach, California, and Daytona Beach, Florida, in
18 days.
• Solarex Corporation bought amorphous cells production technology from RCA and built its own trial
power plant in Newtown, Pennsylvania.
• Solar Power Corporation closes.
• Roland Barthez convinced the oil company Total to enter the market and the company’s work is managed
by Total Energie Development.
• Tenesol is established by Total.

1984
• The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) commissions its first 1-megawatt photovoltaic
electricity generating facility.
• A 337kW Building-Integrated Photovoltaic [BI-PV] Roof was installed on Intercultural Centre of
Georgetown University using 4464 Solarex Modules.
• BP Solar Systems, with EGS donations, built a 30kW photovoltaic system connected to public electric grid
near Southampton, Great Britain.
• R & S Solar, wholly owned subsidiary of Shell based in Helmond Netherlands bought the systems business
known as Holecol (The date R & S Solar started is unknown).
• HCT Shaping Systems was established in Lausanne Switzerland by Charles Hauser and developed
innovative saw for cutting wafers.

1985
• The University of South Wales breaks the 20% efficiency barrier for silicon solar cells under 1-sun
conditions.
• SunPower Corporation was established by Dick Swanson and Dick Crane. After focussing on high efficient
concentrating cells the company went onto to develop and commercialized cost-effective, high-efficiency
photovoltaic modules based on the “all-back contact” cell design.
• BP Solar bought Tideline’s manufacturing plant in Sydney, Australia and launched BP Solar Australia.
• Daimler Benz acquired AEG Telefunken and incorporated the solar business into its Deutsche Aeropsace
division.
• Photowatt absorbed France Photon.
• Showa Shell Sekiyu formed through the merger of two oil companies Showa Oil and Shell Sekiyu and
signed joint venture with Arco Solar to collaborate on thin fil research.

1986
• Siemens Solar was formed, though Siemens involvement with PV had started early 1980’s through its
nuclear energy subsidiary Interatom.
• Neste Advanced Power systems (NAPS) was established by Finnish oil company Neste.

1987
• In the Pentax World Solar Challenge 1987 race through Australia, a General Motors Sunracer vehicle won
with an average speed of 71 km/h.
• Chronar France acquired the majority share of Photowatt.
• Solarvolt was closed.

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