Product Briefing Outline: The Air Products ChemGuard 1000 Automated Chemical Delivery system was developed exclusively for the photovoltaics market to help customers reduce phosphorus oxychloride (POCl3) dopant bubbler refill costs by more than 45%. The system will enable users to minimize their cost of operation and risk of contamination, while improving delivery system safety and reliability.
Mono-crystalline solar wafer producer, Shangahi Comtec Solar Technology has placed an order with Meyer Burger worth approximately €20.9 million for wire saws. Comtec is expanding capacity from 200MW to 400MW in 2010 and is a previous customer of Meyer Burger. The delivery is scheduled to start in April with completion until the end of 2010, Meyer Berger said.
Having relied on its testing lab in Belgium for customers based in Asia for polyvinyl butyral (PVB) material testing and qualification until now, Solutia has opened a new testing lab in Suzhou, China, intended to significantly reduce lead times. The new facility will contain essential testing equipment, such as a bake oven, thermal bath, pummel testing equipment and an impact tower. Solutia said that the facility will also house a sample center, which will provide Saflex sheet samples on request to customers across the region.
According to reports, Taiwan-based Mosel Vitelic has cancelled a five-year solar wafer contract with LDK Solar and is seeking US$46 million in refunds of its downpayment and compensation for noncompliance with the contract, which was signed in 2007. Mosel Vitelic also claimed that during peak demand cycles, LDK Solar was unable to meet contracted wafer quantities, resulting in business being turned down. Mosel Vitelic has a 60MW production capacity for crystalline solar cells.
The cards would seem to have been stacked against Sunfilm on multiple fronts that have resulted in the a-Si thin-film producer filing for insolvency on March 26, in the district court in Dresden, Germany. Despite a merger in May 2009 with another thin-film start-up, Sontor, that gave the company a combined capacity of 145MW and tandem-junction cells with 8% claimed efficiencies, a resurgent crystalline solar competitive position and the dominance of CdTe thin film and global leader, First Solar, has squeezed many thin-film producers through 2009 and into 2010. Approximately 300 employees at the two manufacturing plants had been on shorter working hours since late 2009. The merged company had approximately 400 workers when the merger was announced.
Having been the major beneficiary of venture capital investments over recent years, solar funding could be on the wane if the fall in funding for the first quarter of 2010 develops into a trend going forward. According to the latest findings issued by the Cleantech Group and Deloitte, transportation topped the category list for the first time with US$704 million invested in 27 deals. The solar sector only attracted US$322 million in 27 deals. Clean technology in general attracted VC investments totalling US$1.9 billion across 180 companies in the first quarter of 2010.
The third-largest built solar PV power plant, located in Lieberose, Germany, has been sold by juwi Group for approximately €160 million to WealthCap, a subsidiary of UniCredit Bank. The 162-hectare site was a former military training area and employs 700,000 CdTe thin-film modules from First Solar for a capacity of 53MW. The plant came onstream in autumn 2009.
Product Briefing Outline: Shin-Etsu Silicones of America (U.S. subsidiary of Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. Ltd., Japan) has recently introduced a diverse line of advanced performance, silicone-based products specifically designed for applications that benefit the protection and performance of PV modules in the field. These are comprised of two key product categories that cover potting and sealing applications.
Impacted by high polysilicon contract prices that were significantly above current spot prices and major competitors reported costs, LDK Solar reported fourth quarter, 2009 revenue below market expectations. Net sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 were US$304.6 million, compared to US$281.9 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2009, and US$426.6 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008. Wafer ASPs declined faster than expected in the quarter. The company generated a small loss of US$3.5 million due to a US$10 million settlement of a class action lawsuit.
Preliminary 2009 market figures for the PV industry have been issued by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA), after its recent workshop was held in Rome, Italy. The EPIA said that 6.4GW of newly installed capacity was achieved in 2009, reaching a total capacity of over 20GW worldwide. Although this was hailed as being the most important annual capacity increase ever, due in part to the economic recession, 2010 is expected to see installations increase by at least 40%, while the annual growth is expected to increase by more than 15%.
