This Week in Solar

Hey, solar Fools. No earthshaking news this week, I'm afraid, but I did find a few tidbits worth sharing.

On Tuesday, JA Solar (Nasdaq: JASO  ) announced that it is developing high-efficiency solar cells using solar start-up Innovalight's silicon ink technology. The Harris & Harris Group (Nasdaq: TINY  ) portfolio company just installed its first high-throughput industrial printing system back in June, so this certainly makes JA Solar an early adopter. The solar shop is targeting commercialization next year.

On Thursday, Solarfun Power (Nasdaq: SOLF  ) reiterated its shipment volumes and guided revenue to a range of $135 million to $144 million. Even on the high end, that revenue level is well below Wall Street analysts' average target. If solar had a road sign today, it would read: Beware of falling sales prices!

First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR  ) continues to attract utility-scale suitors, this week landing a 27-megawatt supply agreement with the U.S. subsidiary of juwi Holding AG. The company's thin-film panels will supply two near-term projects, one in Florida and one in Ohio.

Also on Thursday, Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT  ) introduced a new technology for improving the efficiency of crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells. One application -- double-printed metal line deposition -- has been shown to improve efficiencies by up to half a percentage point. If baseball is a game of inches, solar is a game of microns, so even 50 basis points are a big deal.

Speaking of efficiency, Q-Cells rounded out the week by announcing a record 15.9%-efficient polycrystalline module prototype, due on the market next year. The German company thus edges out Suntech Power (NYSE: STP  ) , which claimed a record 15.6% last month.