December 17, 2007 – Emcore Corp. says it will form a joint venture with Korea’s DI Semicon and other parties to manufacture concentrating photovoltaic systems in Korea, in part to fulfill new orders to supply as much as 20MW of the systems in the near future.

The company says it has received an initial purchase order for 5.7MW of its systems for alternative energy projects in South Korea, as well as a letter of intent for another 14.3MW in follow-on projects, expected to be released in the next six months.

Emcore says its CPV systems incorporate high-efficiency compound semiconductor-based multi-junction solar cells that operate with 500x concentration, resulting in a lower cost-per-watt than competing technologies — plus they avoid the problem of supply constraints with silicon-based solar modules.

The deal is “an important step” in building up Emcore’s solar power division, according to VP/GM Earl Fuller, in a statement, noting that Korea’s renewable energy market currently has “one of the highest feed-in tariffs in the world.”