BP Solar saw a recovery in sales in the third quarter, reflecting a recovery in business BP reported in its latest quarterly results statement. Module sales in the quarter reached the equivalent of 73MW, compared with 47MW in the same period of last year.
Veeco Instruments has returned a small profit (US$1.3 million) for the first time in over a year, boosted by record quarterly bookings of US$226 million, which was dominated by LED and solar sectors, making up approximately 80% (US$179 million) of the bookings. Veeco noted that its equipment backlog now stood at US$287 million, with US$239M in LED & Solar.
Having reached the milestone of 10 thin-film customer production plants this year, Oerlikon Solar is now projecting sales to be flat in 2010, compared with expected full-year results for the end of 2009. With an initial surge in sales in 2007, peaking at CHF 628 million in 2008, Oerlikon Solar’s 9-month sales have reached CHF 432 million. However, Oerlikon Solar posted strong Q209 results, due to two major contracts being signed in the June of the same year. The company noted that Q309 order intake did not include any major contracts.
Product Briefing Outline: Magma Design Automation Inc. has introduced ‘YieldManager Solar,’ a yield enhancement software system customized for solar fabs that is intended to improve energy conversion efficiency, increases yield and reduces the manufacturing costs of solar cells. Based on software proven in the semiconductor industry, YieldManager Solar provides fast, accurate analysis and correlation of all metrology, inspection and performance data used throughout the solar cell manufacturing process. With this information, solar fab test and production engineers can quickly identify and correct root causes of solar energy conversion efficiency and yield degradation caused by subtle fab processing fluctuations or instability – saving time, maximizing equipment utilization, increasing yield and reducing costs.
Phoenix Solar is expecting the French solar market to become important to its revenue stream in coming years. Having recently established a France-based operation, Phoenix Solar has secured a contract with E.ON Climate & Renewables GmbH to plan and build a solar power plant with a capacity of 1.5MW in Le Lauzet in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region on a southern alpine slope at an altitude of 1,000 m.
Timminco said that it was increasing production of silicon metal at its subsidiary, Becancour Silicon due to further purchase commitments from existing customers. As a result, Becancour Silicon will restart the third of its three electric arc furnaces to meet demand. The company is expected to recall some of the workforce that had been laid-off earlier this year, when demand had fallen.
Product Briefing Outline: Wacker is introducing ‘Tectosil,’ a silicone-based elastic polymer sheet, which is thermo-formable and therefore a fast and easy encapsulant process. Tectosil provides sensitive solar cells with effective and long-lasting protection against mechanical and chemical stresses. It is non-corrosive and can be used with any type of module.
Update 1. 17/10/09: China Sunergy said late Friday, 16th October that it had been successful in gaining an extension of the injunction against REC Wafer Norway AS relating to certain bank guarantees. The Norwegian court ruled that the injunction should remain in force until the issue covered by the writ served on REC Wafer Norway AS by China Sunergy is resolved.However, according to a statement from China Sunergy, the court was said to have noted that "proven probable that China Sunergy has the right to resist the merger between REC SiTech and REC Scanwafer. It is specifically stated in the agreement that no third party has any rights under the agreement." Further, the court stated "[t]here is nothing indicating a payment default in this case."---China Sunergy is attempting to gain an extension to an existing injunction, preventing REC from accessing US$50 million in various bank guarantees the Chinese PV manufacturer made in relation to long-term wafer supply agreements. However, the company is also filing a legal writ regarding the legal status of REC Wafer Norway AS, which China Sunergy claims was not the party to the contract as this had been signed with REC SITECH, which was later reorganized by REC. The current injunction lasts until October 15th, 2009.
Product Briefing Outline: i2S LineScan, Inc., a supplier of on-line and off-line camera based vision systems for optical defect detection and feature metrology, is introducing a thin film photovoltaic application specific machine design, the PV-4000. Utilizing standard software, the inspection system can inspect glass panel, roll-to-roll metallic, or film substrates, and capture images of visual defects or out of dimension features.
MEMC Electronic Materials has shuffled its senior management with the aim of having executives responsible for its two core markets, semiconductor and solar. Ken Hannah, who has served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since April 2006, has been promoted to the newly created position of Executive Vice President of MEMC and President of MEMC Solar Materials. Hannah will therefore be responsible for all sales and manufacturing operations for polysilicon and solar wafers.
