During next week’s Intersolar North America, July 10-12 in San Francisco, Rehm Thermal Systems will have its latest vacuum soldering technology on hand, including its VS 160S vacuum soldering system.
The Bulgarian government has announced a 50% cut to solar feed-in tariffs, having only approved a new FiT in April. Effective July 1, chair of the State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR), Angel Semerdzhiev, told Parliament on Friday that the renewable energy surcharge was solely responsible for an increase in electricity rates.
Trina Solar has launched its training academy in the UK, the company has announced. The academy’s target group are installers and distributers that work with Trina products and the aim is to help them with marketing and sales as well as product training and information. The company has scheduled online seminars beginning July 6, 2012, for example for theTrinamount or Trinasmart systems, as well as workshops. The academy is linked to Trina’s Partner Plus program, though non-partners can participate as well.
A car carrier equipped with Panasonic’s hybrid power supply system has been finished, the company has announced. Panasonic supplied the Emerald Ace with a 160kW PV system as well as lithium-ion batteries. The system is primarily used to power the ship while it is at anchor so the diesel generator can be turned off.
Clenergy will be providing its PV-ezRack SolarTerrace I-B ground mounting system for a 40MW solar power station being developed in Jiayuguan, China by one of the country’s leading utility company’s and a well-known, but unnamed Chinese PV panel manufacturer. Clenergy’s PV-ezRack is the company’s newest product. It features beam and support components, which are standardized and fasteners of the same specification.
Solutia’s stockholders have voted in favour of its previously announced acquisition by Eastman Chemical Company. The original merger agreement was signed on January 26 and states that stockholders will receive US$22 in cash and 0.12 shares of Eastman common stock for each share of Solutia common stock.
With shipping due to commence in autumn 2012, Kaco New Energy used Intersolar Europe a fortnight ago as a platform to launch its new energy storage and management system, Powador-gridsave.
Continuing market constraints and unattainable cost bases have conspired to force Schott Solar’s management to withdraw from c-Si PV manufacturing completely. Although the company’s thin-film and CSP activities are unaffected by this news, this exit from the c-Si sector will affect around 870 employees as well as its Mainz and Alzenau plants in Germany, Valasske Mezirici in the Czech Republic and Albuquerque in New Mexico.
The dark clouds of controversy looming over the German feed-in tariff have finally cleared with a compromise between the Bundestrat and Bundestag. Chancellor Merkel’s government has announced that it wants to maintain a solar “growth” corridor” of 2,500 – 3,000MW per year, with installations capped at 52GW. A class system for medium-sized roof-top installations will also be introduced. All funding will be back-dated to the original date of April 1, 2012.
It appears that the next victim of this most ruthless of competitions – the solar shakeout – is CdTe thin-film manufacturer Abound Solar. Another controversial recipient of a DOE loan guarantee, the company will be closing its doors next week, a claim that has been confirmed on the DOE's website today. According to a GTM Research report, the company will finally cave to cost pressure from CdTe leader First Solar and the general plummeting product costs across the PV manufacturing board.
