Search sponsor
Search sponsor
Following a continued downturn in operating results, Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) will close its 650MW multicrystalline wafer plant at Herøya, Norway by the second quarter of 2012. The closure of the Herøya plant, in the south of the country, will signal the end of all REC’s wafer operations in Norway after the closure of the Glomfjord monocrystalline plant on March 20, 2012.
Arkema and CEA announced that they had developed their collaboration to go outside of the PV field and into the micro-electronics and organic electronics sectors with the creation of two joint research laboratories. The CEA-Leti and CEA-Liten labs aim to develop new high-performance materials and manufacturing processes for France’s electronics market.
MEMC Electronic Materials, parent company of SunEdison, has issued a formal statement in regards to what is deems misinformation regarding its CEO, Ahmad Chatila, and the company’s restructuring. “We have been made aware of rumors relating to the company which may be causing concern,” said John Marren, chairman of the MEMC board of directors, “and we wish to make it absolutely clear that Ahmad Chatila remains our CEO. The MEMC Board has been actively engaged in the ongoing review of the company’s performance and has taken appropriate action when necessary or desirable,” Marren continued.
Global industry association SEMI has reported that in Q4, ending December 2011, the PV manufacturing equipment book-to-bill ratio has gone from the previous quarter’s 0.35 to 0.53. The increase is due to a more tempered decline in bookings compared to the decline in billings.
More than one bidder has led to an auction to be held on Tuesday, April 24 for silicon metal specialist, Timminco and its UMG-silicon subsidiary Bécancour Silicon. Previously, QSI Partners had been identified as a ‘Stalking Horse’ bidder and had provided funds to Timminco for the short term.
A one-year, US$70 million R&D and supply project is underway between materials supplier, Heraeus and Yingli Green. Resources are being allocated from Heraeus’ three global technology centres to develop next-generation silver metallization pastes for Yingli’s N-type ‘PANDA’ silicon solar cells.
Further confirmation that overcapacity in polysilicon production will continue to force prices lower comes from a new report from IHS iSuppli. According to the market research firm, total polysilicon production capacity is expected to reach 328,000MT in 2012, an increase of 15% from 285,000MT in 2011. However, this contrasts with expected demand this year of 196,000MT, a decline of 4% from 205,000MT in 2011.
As part of its planned expansion into existing and emerging markets, Beneq has announced that Russian stock company RUSNANO has invested €25 million into the Finnish company. The investment is a combination of capital injection and share purchase.
SINTEF Materials & Chemistry ECN have renewed their agreement to strengthen their long-standing collaboration in the field of crystalline silicon photovoltaics. With this agreement SINTEF and ECN will combine the operation of pilot infrastructure for silicon feedstock production, crystallization, wafering and solar cell manufacturing. It is hoped that this collaboration will increase the effectiveness of their R&D efforts.
Flexibility in PV manufacturers’ purchasing strategies, especially in the case of in-house sourcing of polysilicon and wafers, can have a significant impact on manufacturing costs, according IMS Research, which was recently acquired by IHS. The latest twist in purchasing tactics by manufacturers is driven by aggressive price declines in 2011 that are expected to continue in 2012.
