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The need for management to finalize inventory write-downs and a range of impairment charges for its fourth quarter 2011 financial results have forced LDK Solar to delay its earnings release until the end of April. The company had originally planned to release results on April 12, now pushed back to April 30. LDK is the last of the major PV manufacturers to report fourth quarter and full year results for 2011.
Bidding for the real estate, patents and facility inventory of failed Dutch thin-film PV cell manufacturer Nuon Helianthos BV, will begin on April 16. The company announced that the pilot plant, located in Arnhem, would be closed last year after failing to reach commercial production due to lack of investment.
With the recent closure of REC’s wafer operations Glomfjord, Norway wafering slurry recycling contractor, SiC Processing said that it would be closing its support plant in Glomfjord. The company operated 3 lines at the facility with an annual capacity of 34,000 tons.
Praxair China will be providing silane, ammonia, argon, nitrogen and oxygen to Trina Solar’s new production facility in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. Praxair has previously worked with supplying Trina Solar materials for its production facilities in the west and southeast sties of its industrial park in Changzhou.
US-based crystalline silicon PV module manufacturer, Advanced Solar Photonics (ASP) has selected backsheet material from Dunmore for its 100MW facility. The backsheet material will be used on ASP’s high-performance modules which are expected to be used several utility-scale PV power plant projects in the US this year.
Due to growing demand, PPG Industries is expanding production capabilities at its flat glass manufacturing facility in Salem, Oregon, to include higher volumes of its ‘SOLARPHIRE’ AR anti-reflective and ‘2XAR’ two-sided, anti-reflective glass for PV module manufacturers based primarily on the West Coast.
Air Products has completed and brought onstream its hydrogen selenide (H2Se) facility expansion at its electronic specialty materials manufacturing facility in Hometown, PA, USA. The newly expanded high-purity H2Se facility will serve the growing demand from the CIGS market for the compound, which is provided by Air Products to semiconductor and PV customers at more than 99.99% purity levels.
After announcing last October that it was halting polysilicon production at its German facility and cutting wafer jobs in the UK, it is perhaps no surprise that PV Crystalox Solar has posted some rather dreary numbers for 2011. Group revenue was €210.4 million, 17% lower than 2010, due to what the company stated was the effect of lower average selling prices. EBIT, before exceptional items, was €4.1 million, a 1.9% margin. The company did note that shipment volumes of 384MW were reached in 2011, compared to 378MW in 2010.
New technological applications, largely from the solar industry, are creating a ‘high and stable’ requirement for silver says a new report by Merchant Research & Consulting. Increases in the manufacture of products such as semiconductors and cable sheaths, which contain small amounts of silver, has meant the precious metal is in high demand and driven investment into its procurement.
The total amount of polysilicon imported by China reached a record high of 7,615 tonnes in February 2012, Digitimes reports. The figure was an increase of 62.6% on January and imports increased by 129.6% when compared to February 2012. The total import amount for polysilicon during January-February 2012 was 12,296 tonnes according to figures obtained from Chinese customs statistics.
