NREL funds private US/Russian solar-cell plant startup
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL, Golden, CO) has awarded Kvant (Moscow, Russia) a seven-month, $500,000 subcontract to cover start-up costs for the Moscow Sovlux facility, a joint venture between photovoltaic-cell producer Energy Conversion Devices Inc. (ECD, Troy, MI) and Kvant. In 1993, ECD shipped components for the Kvant-financed facility to Moscow, but funding problems stemming from the disbanding of the former Soviet Union halted construction; the NREL subcontract is expected to help bring the facility on line. The agency also signed a nine-month $1.1 million cost-shared cooperative research and development agreement with ECD under which NREL will provide technical assistance valued at $300,000.
