Your daily dose of photovoltaic technology developments and solar news

As part of its strategic plan to become a leading broad-based equipment supplier to the solar manufacturing industry, Meyer Burger Technology has acquired the remaining 34% share capital in Hennecke Systems. Meyer Burger had concluded a 66% share acquisition in the inspection equipment firm in February, 2008.

SunPower Corp has reported record fourth quarter revenue of US$548 million, which helped push 2009 total revenues to US$1.52 billion, a 6% increase over 2008. SunPower guided revenue for 2010 would be between US$2.00 and US$2.25 billion and heavily weighted to large-scale utility projects in the second half of the year. The SunRay Renewable Energy acquisition will add 1.2GW to its project pipeline, which the company said was now standing at 4GW. The company reached a cost per watt of slightly below US$2.00 in the fourth quarter.

The German government solar energy official, Dr. Karin Freier told a Euroforum conference that solar module installations reached 3GW in 2009, according to Reuters. The official figures have yet to be released, with many industry observers believing the figures are being withheld until proposed feed-in tariff cuts gain full authorization. Reuters quoted Freier as saying that more than 5GW could be installed in Germany this year as the race to beat the tariff cuts that are to start July 1st occurs.

Although a new long-range forecast from Bloomberg New Energy Finance believes wind will be the main technology used through 2030, solar photovoltaics is expected to grow considerably in that timeframe and help contribute to renewable energy generating 22% of global energy production by 2020 and 31% by 2030. According to the report annual global expenditure on renewable energy projects will increase from US$90 billion in 2009 to US$150 billion in 2020. Given current policy targets from countries around the world, expenditure is projected to increase to US$200 billion annually by 2030.

Global solar photovoltaic installations reached 6.43GW in 2009, an increase of 6% over 2008, according to a new report from Solarbuzz, which was recently acquired by The NPD Group. According to the market research firm, this is a new record for installations and generated US$38 billion in global revenues. The top three countries in Europe were Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic, which accounted for 4.07GW of installations. European countries accounted for 4.75GW of installations or 74% of world demand in 2009. The United States was the third-largest market in 2009, which grew 36% to 485MW, with Japan posting growth of 109% to secure the fourth spot.

The solar industry's largest trade show in the United States, Solar Power International, will be moving outside of California, as Dallas, TX, has been chosen as the site for the event in 2011. The board of managers of Solar Energy Trade Shows (SETS) announced the decision a few days after naming Brian Tully as the organization's new executive director.

Obtaining Bundestag approval for Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrat Party proposal for further cuts to Germany’s solar power feed-in tariffs could be in doubt after Horst Seehofer, the Bavaria state premier and sister party, Christian Social Union (CSU) to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats told Reuters he was opposed to the cuts. The centre-right coalition has a majority of seats in the German lower house of parliament, which will have to vote on proposed cuts.

In a move to bring its production capacity up to 1GW by the end of 2010, Yingli Green Energy will add 300MW of monocrystalline-silicon-related solar manufacturing capabilities at its Baoding headquarters campus in China. The expansion news came as the company announced record PV module shipments for its recently completed fourth quarter and fiscal-year 2009. The vertically integrated company will build ingot, wafer, cell and module lines, and the solar cells will be based on the high-efficiency mono-c-Si technology developed through the Project Panda collaboration (which also includes the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands [ECN] and equipment supplier Amtech Systems). To help finance the new construction and buildout, the company has received a five-year project loan of RMB 1.5 billion ($219 million) and a working capital credit facility of RMB 250 million ($36 million), both granted by the Bank of Communications, Hebei Branch (BOCOM).

A slowdown in capacity expansions in 2009 meant PV equipment supplier Roth & Rau posted lower revenue last year than in the previous year of 2008. Revenue in 2009 was €197.9 million, compared to €272.1 million in 2008. However, order intake in the fourth quarter of 2009 was strong, especially from Asia-based customers, the company said. This enabled its order intake to remain close to its 2008 levels, declining only 3.9% in 2009. New orders were €195.6 million in 2009, compared to €269.7 million in 2008. The first weeks of 2010 also witnessed an improved climate in the sector, the company said in a statement, covering 2009 preliminary results.

Updated: The largest crystalline silicon PV module manufacturer, Suntech Power Holdings has reported revenue figures for 2009, which were impacted by the decline of average selling price (ASP) for its PV modules. Total net revenues for the year were US$1,693.3 million, compared with US$1,923.5 million in 2008, even though shipments were up 43% compared with 2008. However, margins improved due to lower polysilicon and wafer costs. Gross profit was US$338.8 million and gross margin was 20.0% compared to consolidated gross profit of US$342.9 million and gross margin of 17.8% for the full year 2008. Suntech said it was sold-out through the first half of 2010 and would be boosting capital spending and increasing capacity, specifically for its ‘Pluto’ cell technology based modules.