Over the years Windpower has served as a hub not only for industry deals but major company announcements as well, and Windpower 2010 was no different. Here are just a few of the announcements made by industry members.

Since the 1990s, a green fluorescent protein known simply as GFP has revolutionized cell biology. Originally found in a Pacific Northwest jellyfish, GFP allows scientists to visualize proteins inside of cells and track them as they go about their business. Researchers have now come up with a new way to overcome the disadvantages of GFP, by tagging proteins with a much smaller probe. Their probe allows proteins to carry out their normal functions, offering scientists the chance to glimpse never-before-seen activity.

National Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE:NSM), a leader in the design and manufacture of high-performance analog semiconductors, today introduced the solar industry's first in-panel SolarMagic™ chipset, marking the advent of a new category of solar systems: "smart panels."

Belectric Inc. is starting construction on a 3-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic power plant at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania.

Tucson Electric Power (TEP) has agreed to purchase the output of 10 new solar power systems, a landfill gas generation project and a new wind farm that together will have an installed capacity of close to 160 megawatts (MW).

Shelton, CT, and Toronto, ON, June 1, 2010 - Despite an uneven economic recovery and the lingering effects of the global recession on virtually every industry around the world, Leon (Lee) M. Pierhal, Chief Executive Officer of OPEL Solar, Inc., a leading global supplier of high concentration photovoltaic ("HCPV") solar panels and other solar products, including utility scale ground-based tracker systems and unique light weight rooftop tracker systems, is reporting a sharp uptick in requests for quotes on industrial scale solar power systems in North America and abroad.

When the first warm rays of springtime sunshine trigger a burst of new plant growth, it's almost as if someone flicked a switch to turn on the greenery and unleash a floral profusion of color. Opening a window into this process, scientists have deciphered the structure of a molecular 'switch' much like the one plants use to sense light.