Your daily dose of Photovoltaic Technology Developments and Solar News

LDK Solar has succumbed to the slowing demand for solar wafers from its customer base that includes Q-Cells, Sharp and Suntech, having revised revenue estimates significantly downwards for its fourth quarter guidance. The revised revenue is between US$425 to US$435 million, compared to its previous projection of between US$555 to $565 million. Wafer shipments were previously projected to be in the range of 260 to 270MW but are now expected to be in the range of 245 to 255MW. Gross margins have also been seriously affected with guidance revised to between 10% & 13%, compared to gross margins of between 18% and 21%, issued previously.

The materials sector of the photovoltaics industry saw quite a few developments in the past year. Polysilicon cost, especially given the ongoing economic downturn, had risen for most of 2008, but the expected rise in polysilicon supply has seen prices fall by around 50% over the course of the year.

The Linde Group’s, Taiwan joint venture BOC Lien Hwa (BOCLH) has been selcted to provide a range of bulk & specialty gases for Auria Solar’s new 60MW thin film production facility in Tainan, Taiwan. Auria Solar is expected to start volume production in early 2009, using a-Si thin film equipment and technology from Oerlikon Solar.

MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. has revised downwards its revenue projections for the fourth quarter of 2008, owing to a slowdown in end demand in both the semiconductor and solar industries, according to the company. MEMC now expects to make between $400 and $425 million in the three-month period, compared to a previous guidance of $500 million plus or minus $25 million. Operating costs for the quarter are expected to remain unchanged at $27 million.

According to Taiwan’s Industrial Development Bureau, the PV industry in Taiwan is growing rapidly and requires the financial support of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) to boost the supply of key materials required in the production of photovolatics. Assistance will be given to to support the domestic production of low-iron glass, EVA (ethyl-vinyl acetate), silver/aluminum paste, solder and other raw materials that are not currently produced in Taiwan.

Once a holder of a 19.5% strategic interest in Italian start-up Estelux, SOLON SE has confirmed that it has now acquired the company in a 100% equity investment purchase. Estelux has been planning the construction of a solar-grade silicon manufacturing facility in Ferrara, Italy and had awarded the engineering of the plant to Jacobs Engineering Group. The facility is expected to boast an initial annual capacity of 4,000 tons by the end of 2010.

Sumco Techxiv Corp., a subsidiary of Sumco Corporation, the silicon wafer manufacturer, has announced via the Japan Times that it will suspend wafer production at its Omura factory. The suspension, which is planned for two weeks from December 25th, comes after the company approximately halved its 400-strong workforce since late October this year.

Arise Technologies' solar PV silicon division has met the fourth major milestone for its polysilicon feedstock pilot plant project. The Canadian company said that it has finished the initial construction phase of the plant and that the pilot plant-scale silicon refining furnace, manufactured by Ebner Industrieofenbau, has also been completed and is operational.

ReneSola Ltd has sold its 49% share interest in Linzhou Zhongsheng Semiconductor Silicon Material Co., Ltd., and renegotiated its polysilicon purchases with the JV that will end after a RMB156 million sum is fully credited. ReneSola said that its current feedstock supply deals coupled to its Sichuan polysilicon plant and the Linzhou facility capacity and expected tolling arrangements, provided sufficiently for its 2009 wafer production output.

At the Credit Suisse Technology Conference in Scottsdale, AZ, LDK Solar Co. Ltd. CFO Jack Lai commented to investors about the company’s capital expenditure plans and operating profit outlook for next year.  LDK is targeted to increase manufacturing capacity to 1.1 GW by the end of 2008. The announcement by Lai confirms LDK's commitment to achieving 2GW of production by the end of 2009, almost doubling its anticipated capacity at the end of this current year.

Lai told investors “his assumptions of 1.5GW of output at an average of $2 per watt were neither aggressive nor conservative.”