All assets of GSF Capital and its senior manager, Javier Romero have been frozen by an Italian court over claims that Suntech and its chairman and CEO, Dr. Zhengrong Shi were victims of fraud. The court also appointed a manager to take control of the Fund, though Suntech did not provide further insight into how the affair happened.
After entering discussions concerning two PPAs, Corporación Dominicana de Empresas Eléctricas Estatales (CDEEE) has signed on the dotted line enabling the state-owned utility to purchase output from two 58MW PV projects in the Dominican Republic.
To avoid further drains on its battered balance-sheet, REC said it would start winding-up REC Wafer Norway via bankruptcy proceedings. The solar wafer operations at two sites in Glomfjord and at Herøya have already been permanently closed down. The bankruptcy of REC Wafer Norway was said to not have an effect on REC Solar and REC Silicon operations, which continue to operate as normal.
The government of the state of Gujarat in India has confirmed it is exploring the possibility of setting up a 1,000MW solar power project in conjunction with the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Gujarat estimates that the project could cost around Rs 8 to 9 crore per MW, therefore, the 1,000MW project could cost anywhere between Rs 8,000 to 9,000 crore.
Still in a restructuring and refinancing phase, designed to make the company more flexible and operate sustainably during dynamic changes in the solar industry, systems integrator, Phoenix Solar reported sales for the second quarter of 2012 as €46.5 million. This constitutes a 57.1% decline when compared to the same period a year ago. The company made a loss of €13.0 million, though refinancing of over €100 million was secured to enable the company to restructure.
Despite a 13% increase in sales for its fiscal third quarter, specialist PV equipment supplier, Amtech Systems has implemented new cost cutting measure to tackle the downturn that has proved to longer and deeper than expected. The cost reductions include voluntary salary reductions by management ranging from 10 to 20% and salary reductions of other corporate staff.
Despite improving business conditions for its US residential and utility-scale businesses that have led to capacity utilization rates topping 90%, SunPower’s management ruled out the need for a capital spending increase. Debottlenecking and new process migrations for all lines at Fab 2 and Fab 3 would negate the need for a new capital equipment spending cycle until some time in the first-half of 2014, which would then require the construction of Fab 4.
Hanwha SolarOne has officially launched its new North American unit, Hanwha SolarEnergy America (HSEA), which will serve customers in the utility and commercial sectors. The company noted that its new North American arm completes the integration of Solar Monkey, a California developer Hanwha SolarOne bought with an initial stake in January 2011. HSEA has developed a project pipeline of 1GW.
The US Export-Import bank signed a declaration of intent (DOI) with the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa. The DOI aims to progress the South African government’s Integrated Resource Plan and the South African Renewable Initiative. The agreement will see the Ex-Im bank provide financing up to US$2 billion worth of US technologies, products and services to South Africa’s energy sector, with a focus on clean-energy development.
