As part of its overall cost reduction strategy, Energy Conversion Devices is realigning solar manufacturing capacity in its United Solar business among its existing facilities. Effective this fall, the company will shift certain final assembly operations for its laminates from the Auburn Hills, MI, campus to the Tijuana, Mexico, facility, while continuing to manufacture its proprietary flexible triple-junction amorphous-silicon thin-film solar cells at the Auburn Hills site.
Canadian Solar will build its first PV module manufacturing facility outside China in Guelph, Ontario. The $24 million facility, which is being developed by the company's Canadian Solar Solutions subsidiary, will have an annualized capacity of 200MW once fully operational and is expected to be ready to begin production in early 2011.
LDK Solar posted record revenues for the second quarter, resulting in significant increases in gross margin and net income. The PV manufacturer shipped nearly 20% more wafers and 136% more modules compared to the previous quarter, and increased its wafering capacity to 2.3GW in June. The company expects revenues for the third quarter to be slightly above those of the just-completed period and to near the $2 billion mark for the fiscal year.
Nanosys and Samsung have formed a strategic alliance and licensing arrangement to accelerate the development of commercial applications of nano-architected materials for the electronics and thin-film solar markets. Under the terms of the deal, Samsung Electronics will contribute funding and resources to codevelop products using Nanosys technologies. Samsung Venture Investment Corp. will make a $15 million equity investment in the nanotechnology company, along with an additional $10 million to be contributed by venture firms including Arch Venture, Polaris, Venrock, and El Dorado.
Emcore and San'an Optoelectronics have signed a joint-venture deal for the development, manufacture, and distribution of concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) receivers, modules, and systems for terrestrial solar power applications in China. The JV, called Suncore Photovoltaics, will be owned 40% by Emcore and 60% by San'an, which is the largest producer of LED chips and epitaxial wafers in China and is also a leader in CPV manufacturing and deployment in the country.
A portion of a former nuclear testing ground in Nevada has been chosen as the site of the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Demonstration Zone, where new concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) technologies will be tested as part of efforts to link advanced technology development and full-scale commercialization efforts. The lands, consisting of more than 25 square miles in the southwest corner of the site, are owned by the Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management and administered by DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration.
One of the founders of thin-film PV manufacturer Solyndra has left the company to head a green energy storage company. Kelly Truman, the CIGS firm's former senior VP, will be the new president/CEO of Deeya Energy.
CIGS thin-film manufacturer Solyndra has informed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it has decided not to go forward with plans for a scheduled initial public offering. At the same time, the company said it has entered into an agreement for the sale of secured convertible promissory notes to certain existing investors in an aggregate principal amount of $175 million in a private placement.
The German Bundesrat is unlikely to pass cuts to solar incentives when they come up for a vote on Friday (June 4), so a mediation committee of the upper house of parliament would be required to resolve the matter, according to unnamed sources cited in a news report by Reuters. The same sources said that if the parliamentary committee is called, the proposed cuts—including the controversial 16% reduction in feed-in tariffs for new rooftop PV installations--would not be able to take effect on July 1 as planned.
Thin-film PV developer AQT has entered into partnerships with module manufacturer Solar Enertech and systems installer/developer HelioPower to drive the delivery and deployment of AQT’s CIGS solar cells into commercial projects later this year.
