News

A new equipment investment cycle for PV manufacturers is boosting quarterly sales for Roth & Rau. New order intake in the first quarter increased 22.5% to €55.8 million, compared to €45.5 million in the previous quarter. Due to long lead times in its project business, the first-quarter revenue continued to be affected by the poor order situation in the second and third quarters of 2009, resulting in revenue declining to €35.32 million.

An announcement by Sharp Solar outlining the potential boom in the Turkish PV market has referred to the country’s government’s recent introduction of a €0.28 feed-in tariff for the first 10 years, with a rate of €0.22 thereafter for another 10-year period. Turkey receives an average of seven hours of sunshine per day, with a radiation intensity of 1,300 kilowatt-hours per square metre.

3M announced that it will be an associate partner of the Desertec Industrial Initiative based in Germany. 3M will contribute in film, adhesive and coating component technologies along with its experience in high-voltage overhead systems.

San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has signed a 20-year power-purchase agreement with an LS Power subsidiary to secure up to 130MW of solar energy from the intended Centinela Solar Energy facility in Imperial Valley. The contract runs through 2033, wherein the PV facility will produce enough renewable energy for around 45,000 households. Final approval from the California Public Utilities Commission is still required.

Southern California Edison (SCE) and SunLink announced the signing of a master supply agreement for the use of SunLink’s rooftop solar mounting solution. The SunLink system will be used in the next step of SCE’s solar generation program.

The Australian Federal Government announced its 2010/2011 budget on May 11, showing strong support for renewable energy. The Australian Greens leader, Bob Brown, announced a new AUS$652 million Renewable Energy Future Fund, which will be part of an expanded AUS$5.1 billion Clean Energy Initiative.

LDK Solar's second 5000MT train in its 15,000MT polysilicon plant has achieved mechanical completion and will begin ramping production. The first train is operating at capacity in full closed-loop mode and is on track to produce at the annualized capacity of 5000MT.

Due to a high demand in the second half of 2010, Solarfun Power Holdings will be expanding its module capacity to 900MW, having already reached its original announced capacity of 700MW. The company also announced that it has purchased a cell line from SMIC to increase its cell capacity to above 500MW by July 1.

P. Energy has supplied an automated PV assembly line with a 5MW per year production capacity to KACST in Saudi Arabia. This new PV line is the first ever installed in the country.

Amtech Systems has released its financial results for its fiscal 2010 second quarter, which ended March 31. Net revenue totalled $16.1 million, a 4% increase from the previous $15.5 million. Solar revenue came in at $10.9 million, compared to $11.9 million sequentially. Operating income was reported as $422, 000 from $128,000 sequentially.