Your daily dose of photovoltaic technology developments and solar news

• Most Popular Articles

  • Q-Cells CEO exits amid investor anxiety
  • Moser Baer achieves 7.3% module efficiency through its proprietary process
  • Solar photovoltaic market grew 6% in 2009, says Solarbuzz
  • Yingli Green to add 300MW of capacity; tops $1B in annual revenues, achieves record module shipments
  • Project Focus: SunPower scores 200MW rooftop PV contract with Southern California Edison

• Popular Technical Papers

  • Photovoltaic Fab Managers’ Forum Review
  • Photovoltaic industry 2009: a journey into uncertainty
  • Overview of automation in the photovoltaic industry
  • Thin-film CIGS starts to come of age
  • CIGS, CdTe thin-film PV equipment sector emerges, standardization remains elusive

• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter

  Name
  Job title
  Company
  Email

Oerlikon Solar will cut its workforce by 60 and reduce working hours for a further 200 employees as the thin-film turnkey equipment specialist experiences a decline in sales and order delays, a result of the economic downturn and extremely difficult credit markets that are impacting customers' ability to raise funds for expansions. The details were released with first quarter results from holding company, The Oerlikon Group.

The company said that no major new orders were received in the first quarter, resulting in orders declining 40% to CHF 11 million. Sales declined 32% to CHF 51 million. Oerlikon Solar’s backlog stood at CHF 390 million, down just 3% from the previous quarter.

The company said that it expects project financing for customers to improve in the second half of 2009, resulting in a return to normal business levels by the end of the year. The medium- and long-term market outlook for thin-film silicon solar modules with double-digit growth rates remains unchanged, noted the company.

The Oerlikon Group said that the poor business conditions, first experienced in the fourth quarter of 2008, have necessitated a reduction in approximately 700 jobs and that almost 6,000 employees were now working shorter hours.