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SpectraWatt willo auction off its 140,000 square-foot crystalline silicon cell manufacturing and research facility in Hudson Valley at the end of the month. In August the cell manufacturer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the bulk and piecemeal auction, to be carried out by Heritage Global Partners, Counsel RB Capital and Silicon Valley Disposition, marks the first stage of financial restructuring.
Rehm Thermal Systems thermal oxidation process has received industry recognition with the presentation of a Solar Industry Award at last week’s EU PVSEC in Hamburg.
Samsung Renewable Energy has selected London, Ontario for the site of its new solar module manufacturing facility. The modules produced at the site will be used for installations constructed in Ontario and abroad. While Samsung did not reply to requests for additional information regarding the plant’s capacity or cost, it has been reported that the London plant is expected to be operational by 2012. The facility is anticipated to create 200 direct, long-term manufacturing jobs and 120 indirect jobs for a city, which ranks high in unemployment for Canada.
Two weeks after Conergy was busy putting out fires surrounding the rumors that it was planning to close its manufacturing plant in Frankfurt, the company has advised that it will be halting production of its wafer and cell manufacturing lines at the German facility. The company advised that its PV module production at the Oder plant would continue, but that the over-capacity, price pressures and the inability to cover the costs of wafer and cell manufacturing had forced it to discontinue the productions for the time being.
Earlier this year the US Department of Energy (DOE) revealed that it had awarded a conditional commitment of US$150 million to 1366 Technologies for the development of a multicrystalline wafer manufacturing facility. The loan guarantee has officially been finalized and will see 1366 capable of producing 700 to 1,000MW of silicon-based wafers annually with its Direct Wafer technology.
AEG Power Solutions (AEG PS) signed a frame agreement at the end of August with GT Advanced Technologies. The companies did not disclose the contract value, but did advise that the deal will see the delivery of the Thyrobox M power supply systems by AEG PS to GT Advanced Technologies. AEG PS noted that it had worked with GT Advanced Technologies’ in that past and maintains that this is the biggest single contract it has landed in its history.
Supplier of wet processing technology RENA and laser systems-provider InnoLas have announced that they are to form a technology and sales partnership. According to InnoLas, the two German companies will pool their technical expertise to develop easily-fabricated and high-efficiency PV cells. As part of the partnership, RENA will also sell equipment from InnoLas, although further details about the deal were not disclosed.
Calisolar is making its move to become high-volume low-cost silicon solar wafer producer with plans to build a 16,000MT silicon production facility in Lowndes County, Mississippi at an estimated cost of US$600 million. A pioneer of enhanced UMG-based wafers, Calisolar is bring silicon material production in-house to significantly lower costs and have greater control over material quality. When fully operational, the plant is said to employ 951 full-time workers.
Germany’s largest PV manufacturer, SolarWorld is closing down legacy module production lines in the US and Germany as part of measures to strengthen its competitiveness. After over a year of increasing capacity in both countries, SolarWorld is closing its module plant in Camarillo, California while legacy lines in Freiberg, Saxony will be taken out of service, according to the company. As a result, short-term ‘loan worker’ numbers in Germany will be reduced, though the company did not provide total workforce reduction numbers. SolarWorld said that production in the US would be concentrated at its facility in Hillsboro, Oregon.
Rasirc has relocated its operation center to a new 19,500 square foot facility in San Diego, California, which houses a class 1,000 cleanroom for manufacturing PV products. The company advised that the necessity to move its operations to a larger facility came from a growth in demand for its products, especially its steamers.
