As one thin-film solar company falls (Solyndra), another one is scaling up. Silicon Valley startup, Stion, on Friday officially opened the doors of its factory in Mississippi, marking a milestone for the company as it seeks to expand production quickly in an increasingly competitive market.

San Jose-based Stion makes solar panels that use copper, indium, gallium and selenium (CIGS) instead of conventional silicon to convert sunlight into electricity. In January this year, the company announced the plan to build the Mississippi factory, which the company expects to eventually reach 500 MW of production capacity and require 0 million in investment. Stion completed a 10 MW pilot line at its headquarters last year.

The factory represents a nice coup for Mississippi lawmakers, who offered Stion a million loan plus tax and job training incentives to build and run the factory. Legislator and Gov. Haley Barbour recently lured another Silicon Valley startup, Calisolar, by offering the solar silicon producer a .25 million package to build a factory there.

Stion plans to expand its production in Mississippi in phases. The first phase is supposed to reach 100 MW of production capacity. The company held a grand opening ceremony for the factory on Friday, but it won’t start producing solar panels until later this year, Stion said. Manufacturers need time to test-run equipment and train employees before rolling out products.

Stion hopes to mass-produce solar panels at much lower costs than its rivals, a goal that is shared by many startups and is increasingly difficult to accomplish. Wholesale prices of solar panels have plummeted in the past three years as manufacturers in the U.S., Asia and Europe built many factories.

Chinese manufacturers, in particular, have expanded production rapidly thanks in part to the huge loans they received from government-run banks. The stiffened competition already has forced three American companies, including CIGS solar panel maker Solyndra, to file for bankruptcy in the last two months.

Stion raised a Series D round of million as of June 2010, including million from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chip manufacturer. Before that, it had raised .6 million in equity from investors including Khosla Ventures, VentureTech Alliance and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

To expand the Mississippi factory to 500 MW, Stion plans to raise at least another round of funding and will consider an initial public offering, the company’s CEO, Chet Farris, told us earlier this year.

Image courtesy of Stion

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Green IT Overview, Q2 2010
• Flash analysis: lessons from Solyndra’s fall
• Green IT’s Q4 Winners: Wind Power, Solar Power, Smart Energy

alt=''
border='0'
/>

GigaOM

Toho, the owner of all things Godzilla, claims a menacing-looking human finger with monster-like scales violates its intellectual-property rights.

Wired Top Stories

Its’ some thing that a lot of beginner guitarists more than look but the quality of the strings in your guitar makes a massive distinction not simply in how your instrument sounds but also with how simple it can be to play.

As guitar strings start to age what happens is they stretch and get dirty. If you happen to be lucky enough not to possess a string snap on you even though playing then you need to aim to alter your strings at a minimum each and every 4 to six weeks. If you happen to be practicing and playing a great deal then you need to shorten that time down to no less than as soon as a month.

Old strings do not hold their tune too, which calls for a lot more frequent re-tuning, and also do not sound good. They’ve a dull tone to them which can virtually make chords and scales sound like they’re becoming played incorrectly at first.

If you’ve never changed a set of strings prior to then you happen to be going to need to watch a short tutorial on it. If you happen to be following guitar lesson dvd then there is certainly a lot more then likely a section that explains the correct approach to alter strings on an acoustic and an electric guitar. If you’re just understanding in your personal then I’d suggest visiting YouTube. There are hundreds of tutorial videos not just for changing strings but virtually every thing else it is possible to feel of concerning the guitar.

If you use a wise phone or possess a calendar close to by I constantly suggest men and women mark the day they alter their strings or set a reminder in their phone for once they needs to be changed. This guarantees you do not play old strings for too extended. It also will lessen how much dirt you get on the fret board of the guitar from the strings.

1 final tip that is some thing most online guitar lessons and other courses do not mention but I really feel it’s an essential habit to obtain into. Wash your hands prior to you play or practice each and every time. This guarantees your strings will final provided that feasible and also that you won’t get dirt in your fret board that is tough to clean.