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French utility EDF will acquire the outstanding 50% share in EDF Energies Nouvelles after the renewable energy firm accepted an offer of €40 per outstanding share. This represents a premium of 10.4% on the share closing price on April 7 and a 23.8% premium compared to the daily volume-weighted average over the last six months.
Global research firm Cleantech has revealed that global investment in green technology for Q1 2011 totalled US$2.57 billion, with the solar sector accounting for US$641 million. Investment came from 159 companies in North America, Europe, China and India, and was up 13% on the figure of US$2.28 billion from the same period last year.
The U.S. government has unveiled the latest stage of its SunShot initiative, which will see US$112.5 million invested in the solar manufacturing sector over the next five years. Funds are being directed towards three partnership projects, located in California, Florida and New York, and will be used to help revitalise the U.S. solar industry by reducing costs and increasing the competitiveness of large-scale projects.
The Associated Press is reporting that the state of Iowa’s Senate has authorized a measure that will allocate up to US$10 million a year in tax credits for wind and solar power generators installed at homes, businesses and farms. The Senate passed the bill with a 49 to 1 vote, which will allow tax credits up to US$15,000 for businesses and farms and US$3,000 for homeowners that take advantage of wind or solar power generators.
JA Solar Holdings is optimistic that the second half of this year will produce better gross margin numbers as it expects the polysilicon supply to increase quickly. “The upstream supply chain will see changes fairly quickly… polysilicon prices will normalize gradually,” stated Fang Peng, JA Solar’s CEO.
Alstom will invest a further US$75 million in BrightSource Energy, adding to its original commitment of US$55 million in May 2010. The companies signed a partnership agreement in August 2010 to provide fully integrated solar thermal power plants around the world.
As with previous notifications, silicon crystallization equipment systems specialist, PVA TePla reported 2010 revenue of 120.4 million, compared to €134.7 million in the previous year. Despite a fall in sales, PVA TePla generated EBIT of €12.0 million, while EBIT margin was at the upper end of the forecasted range of 8-10%.
The photovoltaic manufacturing management software provider, Eyelit, has posted record-breaking Q4 and annual revenue figures for 2010. The figures were driven by significant increases in revenues for both products and support services and helped Eyelit to experience its seventh consecutive quarter-to-quarter rise.
Capital Dynamics and Tangent Energy Solutions have signed a joint development agreement, which will see the two companies working together on commercial-scale solar energy projects throughout the United States. Under the agreement, Capital Dynamics will arrange the funding necessary to build, own and operate existing and future solar projects developed by Tangent.
Sunways saw significant improvement in its 2010 fiscal year over the recorded figures of 2009. Their financial results were so good, that the company stated 2010 was their best financial year in its corporate history. In revenues, Sunways saw a 25.5% increase to €222.7 million over 2009’s €177.5 million. Sales volumes for solar modules and solar inverters also saw a steady increase with solar module sales hitting €96 million, up from 2009’s €56.2 million, and inverters posting sales of €46.6 million from the previous year’s €18.7 million.
