China’s success will cause Germany’s solar manufacturing industry to vanish, predicts a member of EON’s managing board. Klaus-Dieter Maubach stated the industry will become non-existent in five years time.
The difficult solar market in the last quarter of 2011, led Elkem Solar to suspend operations at its plant in Kristiansand, Norway. However, the company has advised that full production has been restored due to an increase in orders for Elkem Solar Silicon.
China-based developer Solar EnerTech Corp has advised that despite its financial struggles requiring it to deregister its common stock; it has retained FTI Consulting to lead its restructuring plans. A chief restructuring officer from FTI has been appointed to explore alternatives to maximize the return to investors.
Solar IPP Sonnedix has announced the acquisition of a 5.4MW ground mounted facility in France from Element Power Solar. Fully operational since February 2011, the plant is located in St Martin Lalande, near Carcassonne and expected to generate in excess of 6,000MWh per annum.
The US Department of Commerce has once again postponed the deadline for issuing a preliminary ruling on SolarWorld’s anti-dumping arraignments against Chinese solar manufacturers. May 16 has been earmarked for the hearing, with March 19 set for a preliminary ruling.
Solar Power Technologies (SPT) has announced that its Clarity solar monitoring system is ETL-certified and will be listed in the Intertek database of certified products, for use in the USA and Canada.
Canadian Solar and Lightsource Renewable Energy have announced the completion of joint projects in the UK. Ground-mounted PV plants were built in Cornwall (Bodmin), Lincolnshire (Spalding) and Somerset (Taunton), with a combined capacity of 6.4MW.
The Guardian has reported Israel’s plans to demolish solar panels in Imneizil in Area C of the West Bank. The two €30,000 panels, constructed by Spanish NGO Seba in 2009, have been labelled “illegal” by Israeli authorities due to building work carried out without a permit.
In keeping with its 20% increase in turnover for 2011 and to boost its international presence, DEGERenergie has recruited Florian Falk Naumann as county manager for Australia. DEGERenergie is expecting its MLD technology to flourish in the Australian climate under the government's “Clean Energy Future” scheme.
PowerGuard's unique PowerClip extended warranty protection has been adopted by module manufacturer China Sunergy. This year alone Lightway Green New Energy, SunEdison, Talesun and Long Energy, to name but a few, have joined the scheme.
