The dispute over a solar wafer supply agreement between Q-Cells and LDK Solar has been settled out of court with both companies continuing their business partnerships and agreeing to a new tolling arrangement for solar cells and modules. According to Q-Cells both parties have resolved their differences over the interpretation of the disputed wafer supply contract and have ended all legal actions, including Q-Cells attempt to collect on a US$244.5 million bank guarantee.
Worldwide Energy and Manufacturing USA, a U.S.-based solar module technology and manufacturer of products for customers in industries such as solar energy, aerospace, wireless telecommunications, medical equipment and automotive, has announced two new solar panel contracts. Totalling 23MW and valued at approximately US$46 million, the solar contracts will be shipped in 2010.
Solarfun Power Holdings, a manufacturer of silicon ingots, photovoltaic cells and modules in China, has announced the signing of an agreement between their subsidiary Jiangsu Linyang Solarfun and the government of Jiayuguan City, Gansu Province that will see the construction of a 100MW solar power plant. Solarfun will construct a module production facility in Jiayuguan City to accommodate the terms of the agreement.

Opsun Technologies' subsidiary, Opsun Panels, has decided to meet the Feed In Tariff's Domestic Content requirement by setting up a 50MW solar panel production line in Ontario. Currently, Opsun is also manufacturing its SunRail mounting system and StructuralPV commercial solution in the same area.
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Energy Conversion Devices will lay off 400 employees from its Uni-Solar unit, some 20% of its combined workforce of more than 1900, as part of what the flexible thin-film solar PV laminate manufacturer calls a "restructuring plan to better align operating expenses with near-term revenue expectations while positioning the company to more efficiently leverage future growth opportunities."
Hudson Clean Energy Partners has closed its debut fund, Hudson Clean Energy Partners, L.P., with commitments of $1.024 billion, surpassing its target of $1 billion. The partnership says it will deploy this capital along with coinvestment commitments to expand the firm's current investment portfolio in the clean energy markets.
Ohio continues to stake its claim as one of the more solar-visionary states in the U.S., both in terms of nurturing a growing photovoltaic manufacturing base and putting the power panels (and its people making and installing them) to work. The latest example comes in the form of more than $13 million in grant awards just funded by the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s State Energy Program (the first to be awarded from said program). Although some of the dough has been designated for wind and solar thermal projects, the lion’s share—more than $7.4 million—will go to 15 solar photovoltaic power installations to be deployed throughout the Buckeye state.
As the dominant state for solar module installations, California is the most competitive region for companies marketing their solar modules in the U.S. Until now, SunPower with its network of distributors and project knowhow has been the leading module supplier in the state but things are starting to shift rapidly, and SunPower is in danger of losing the number-one slot. However, SunPower is not alone in losing market share; a growing list of other name brands are set to see lower share of the market in ’09 compared to last year.
The saying goes “make hay when the sun shines”, and India’s solar PV industry was certainly doing so at the Solarcon India 2009 show held in association with Intersolar India at Hyderabad from November 9th to 11th 2009. It was perhaps the first time that the entire PV industry was comprehensively brought together – including materials and equipment, cell and module manufacturing, balance of systems (BOS) space, total PV solution providers, the finance and banking community, policy makers, end users, and service providers – under one roof.
On the surface (pun intended) there would seem to be of little interest or need to know more about the recent acquisition by Applied Materials of a small cap semiconductor equipment supplier, Semitool. The Montana-based wet processing specialist has been around for a long-time and perhaps because of where it is based, compared with many equipment suppliers clustered in Silicon Valley, it gets little attention in comparison. However, solar cell producers may well find that they get a knock on the cleanroom door soon from Applied, to discuss porous silicon processes and a wet processing tool called the ‘Raider.’
Concentrating photovoltaic company GreenVolts has named Keith Lambert as its new senior VP of operations. Lambert brings 20 years of general management, operations and engineering experience in diverse industries including minicomputers, networking, contract manufacturing, wireless infrastructure, and optical communications.
Hans-Georg Schweikardt has been announced the new Head of Product Management at Sputnik Engineering's headquarters in Biel. Employed with the Swiss solar inverter manufacturer's German branch since 2004, Schweikardt has worked for the company as both a sales engineer and the head of sales.
Materials provider to the semiconductor and solar industries Voltaix has announced an executive management change as company founder and CEO Dr. John P. de Neufville has resigned his post. Remaining in the role of president, chairman and chief scientist for the company, Dr. de Neufville will be replaced in the CEO role on an interim basis by Mark K. Fine (left) from January 1, 2010. Matthew Stephens, COO, has also announced that he is departing the company to pursue other opportunities.
Product Briefing Outline: BASF and Schmid have together developed a new, contact-free laser transfer printing (LTP) process for metallizing the front and back of solar cells. At present, it is mainly the screen printing process that is used for metallization. The printer and paste system now developed by BASF and Schmid is based on a contact-free laser process and not only offers customers advantages with regard to handling, but also increases the efficiency of cell production.
Product Briefing Outline: Helmut Fischer GmbH Institut für Elektronik und Messtechnik has introduced the ‘FISCHERSCOPE’ X-RAY Conti 5000 series, which uses energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence spectrometers (EDXRF) for in-line process control. They are specially designed for continuous non-destructive analysis of alloys and measurement of thin layers and layer systems, best suited to measure CIGS, CIS, CdTe in thickness and composition.
Product Briefing Outline: Honeywell Electronic Materials has launched a new material called Honeywell SOLARC that improves the efficiency and power output of PV module. The new product is a transparent coating material that improves the light transmittance through the glass that covers the solar cells.