On the surface (pun intended) there would seem to be of little interest or need to know more about the recent acquisition by Applied Materials of a small cap semiconductor equipment supplier, Semitool. The Montana-based wet processing specialist has been around for a long-time and perhaps because of where it is based, compared with many equipment suppliers clustered in Silicon Valley, it gets little attention in comparison. However, solar cell producers may well find that they get a knock on the cleanroom door soon from Applied, to discuss porous silicon processes and a wet processing tool called the ‘Raider.’
The cadmium telluride refiner and major supplier to First Solar, 5N Plus is diversifying into solar module recycling, according to a Wall Street Journal article. The company is setting up in a rented facility the system required initially to handle coated soda-lime glass and later the ability to recycle fully laminated modules. The new business is not connected to First Solar’s CdTe modules, according to the story, which quoted a First Solar spokesperson.
A new monosilane plant is being built by Evonik Industries and in partnership with Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation at a cost of €150 million. The plant, when operational in 2011 will supply electronics-grade monosilane for applications in thin-film photovoltaics, flat screens, and semiconductors electronics within Asia.
NRG Energy, via its wholly owned subsidiary NRG Solar LLC has bought the yet to be completed solar power plant in Blythe, California, from First Solar. The 21MW project occupies approximately 200 acres of land and is expected to be completed by the end of the year and is claimed to be the first and largest utility-scale PV project in California.
Product Briefing Outline: specializes in manufacturing and supplying cross-linking agents to compounders and manufacturers of PVM encapsulates. Cross-linking with organic peroxide initiators adds many product and performance advantages, chief of which is the improvement in stability of the encapsulate films produced for PV manufacturing. PV manufacturers rely on special formulation of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) that includes peroxides to achieve dimensional and UV stability through crosslinking.
Business is back and booming at major PV systems integrator Phoenix Solar. The German residential market is overheating as the race to complete installations by year-end intensifies. According to Phoenix Solar, there will not be enough inverters and solar modules available through to the end of the year to achieve its original revenue guidance.
With the start of actual construction of Hemlock Semiconductor’s new polysilicon plant, located in Clarksville, Tennessee, the largest polysilicon producer in the world has revealed both the initial production capacity of the plant as well as its future capacity capability. Initial cost of the plant was said to be US$1.2 billion and will employ approximately 500 workers when ramped. Hemlock has announced investments totalling more than US$4 billion for expanding polysilicon production over the last few years in a drive that is expected to keep the company in its leadership position.
Continued overcapacity in the upstream supply chain that includes polysilicon, solar wafers and solar cells is resulting in continued price declines and uncertainty over 2010 market demand. As a result Q-Cells is planning to hold c-Si cell production at approximately 800MW in 2009 and grow nameplate capacity to 1.1GW in 2010, on provisional market expectations for next year. However, its CIGS thin film subsidiary is expected to increase nameplate capacity to 135MW and actually ship close to 100MW in 2010, signalling the maturity of the product and potential market penetration of the technology. Solibro was said to have shipped its first products to customers in the quarter.
Energy Conversion Devices is struggling to sell its flexible thin-film laminates via its established distribution channels, particularly in North America as the housing and construction markets remain depressed due to the fall-out from the financial crisis. To counter weakening demand, ECD is cutting production again as inventory builds and moving its business model downstream to generate demand and move closer to a project development function that would include engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) solutions.
Product Briefing Outline: LumaSense Technologies has launched its Mikron M7604F and M7604G thermal imaging cameras. The Mikron M7604 camera is a versatile, fully-radiometric camera with high-temperature functionality making it the perfect tool for preventive maintenance inspections, radiometric inspections of internal furnaces and (M7604F) or temperature measurements of glass surfaces (M7604G) for improving process control and product quality.
