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BTU International’s third-quarter financial results, ended October 3, revealed an ongoing strength in the company’s electronics business, reporting an operating profit of US$0.8 million in the third quarter, driven by increased factory utilization.
Tempress Systems, a solar subsidiary of Amtech Systems, has obtained US$33 million in new solar orders from numerous Asian customers. The customers, both new and existing for the company, ordered Tempress’s diffusion processing systems this past October.
Because of expected tool deliveries and customer acceptances by year’s end, solar manufacturing equipment supplier Meyer Burger Technology Group has increased its guidance on net sales for fiscal year 2010. The company, which saw an increase in net sales of 67% to CHF356.9 million (US$363.1 million) during the first half of the year, has boosted its forecast on net sales for 2010, from the previously announced CHF730 million (US$742.7 million) to approximately CHF800 million (US$813.8 million)—nearly double the CHF420.9 million ($428 million) intake achieved in 2009.
Hareon Solar has selected Applied Materials’ SmartFactory manufacturing automation software with the aim of improving productivity across Hareon’s solar photovoltaic cell manufacturing operations in China. The company will install Applied’s software at its cell subsidiaries Jiangyin Hareon Solar Technology and Altusvia Energy.
A recurring theme in 2010 has been upward revisions on a quarterly basis to product shipments from the major PV manufacturers as demand continues to remain strong, despite rapid capacity expansion plans. With the third quarter financial season looming, JA Solar has revised guidance for its third quarter results.
Adding to its 27GW of firing furnace production orders to date, Despatch Industries has been tapped for an undisclosed number of metallization firing furnaces by LDK Solar, who will use the equipment in its most recent expansion projects plans. Despatch has experienced huge demand from Chinese companies in particular of late.
Solarfun has joined JA Solar and Yingli Solar to become the third Chinese crystalline-silicon PV cell manufacturer to sign a licensing agreement with Innovalight for the Sunnyvale, CA-based company’s proprietary performance-enhancing nanosilicon ink process.
1366 Technologies has closed its Series B financing round securing US$20 million and bringing the grand total raised by the company to US$37.55 million. Returning investors North Bridge Venture Partners and Polaris Venture Partners were joined by Ventizz Capital Fund and Hanwha Chemical, who will also become a 1366 direct wafer customer, for the round. 1366 advised that with the close the financing round, it plans to take its direct wafer technology into production.
Update: A significant increase in production capacity of its leading-edge ‘Panda’ technology will help boost Yingli Green’s total PV production capacity pass 1.7GW by mid-2011. Yingli Green is adding 600MW of new capacity in each key area of monocrystalline silicon manufacturing, which includes ingots, wafers, cells and modules at its Baoding, China headquarters. A further 100MW will be added to multicrystalline silicon production, in Haikou, Hainan Province, China. Yingli’s
Once a leading in-house solar module manufacturer, BP Solar has further solidified its outsourced manufacturing strategy by awarding JA Solar a monocrystalline and multicrystalline cell supply contract exceeding 185MW. The new supply deal will see 100MW of cells shipped to BP beginning in the first quarter of 2011.
