Softening end-market demand and production overcapacity have led to a significant decline in new PV equipment bookings in the second quarter of 2011, according to SEMI’s latest version of its ‘Worldwide Photovoltaic Equipment Market Statistics Report.’ Equipment billings reached US$2.03 billion for the quarter ended on June 30, 2011, an increase of 17% quarter-over-quarter, after declining 19% in the first quarter. However, bookings, a leading indicator were down 18%, compared with the previous quarter to US$1.79 billion. SEMI said that the book-to-bill ratio dipped below parity to 0.88 for the first time in the past six quarters.
Solar racking and mounting system supplier Silverback Solar has extended its engineered racking system warranty to 20 years. Although the previous warranty duration was not specified, the company has made the decision following 10 years’ real-life testing of the systems’ impervious coatings on the attachment and connector equipment, as well as Allied Tube and Conduit’s Gatorshield steel tubing, which is an integral part of Silverback’s mounting systems.
The industry will soon be bestowed with the largest global survey of PV installers ever conducted. Armed with the aim of providing a comprehensive market analysis – thereby delivering a much-needed accurate commentary of the world’s markets – EuPD Research will question over 750 installation companies from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Great Britain, Greece and Belgium to amass data on those countries’ figures from installers’ perspectives.
As the 2011 US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Solar Decathlon readies to officially kick-off its fifth biennial competition, SunPower advised that six of the 19 collegiate teams competing chose the company’s solar panels for their solar homes.
Isolux Corsán’s first venture into the UK solar market has been successfully completed with the commenced operation of three, 5MW power plants in Langform, Churchtown and Manor in Cornwall. The €40 million project is said to be the largest, combined, in the UK holding a 15MW-installed capacity.
IKEA officially started generating solar power with its 11th completed US solar project; a new 538kW, 68,000 square foot PV system at its Emeryville, California location. Using 2,394 Gloria Solar panels, the system is anticipated to produce nearly 760,300kWh of solar electricity per year.
Specialty gas supplier Air Liquide has announced that over the course of the past few weeks, it has signed long-term gas supply contracts worth in the region of US$15 million. The company credits the reduction in manufacturing costs and the subsequent move by smaller companies to move into high growth markets as having contributed to the significant increase in orders experienced by the company.
Continuing its expansion into the US, Canadian Solar has announced that it has been awarded the module supply contract for a 2.1MW solar installation at St. Peter's University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The company will supply almost 10,000 of its 6P 240P modules for the project, which will comprise two rooftop arrays, three solar canopies on parking lots and another solar canopy on the roof of a multi-floor parking structure.
Two top executives of controversial thin-film PV company Solyndra won't be offering any substantive testimony before a Congressional subcommittee hearing scheduled for Friday. The company has issued a statement that, because of the ongoing investigation and on the advice of their lawyers, president/CEO Brian Harrison and CFO Bill Stover will invoke their constitutional Fifth Amendment rights, which protects citizens from self-incrimination.
Solar Frontier will be starting to put its Kunitomi plant to serious work as it recently closed a deal to supply over 30MW of its CIS solar modules to solar projects in India by the end of 2011. The deal with the National Solar Mission and Gujarat State intends to use Solar Frontier’s CIS modules in various solar projects as the company’s modules are said to deliver higher overall energy output under real weather conditions.
