The International Photovoltaic Equipment Association has finalized the participants for the fab manager panel discussion to be held as part of the organization’s PV Production Forum 2011, which convenes during the upcoming 26th EU PVSEC, taking place Sept. 5-8 at the International Fair, Hamburg, Germany.
One of the prime movers in First Solar’s rapid transformation into a leading vertically integrated PV company is moving on. Jens Meyerhoff, current president of the utility systems business group and former CFO, will be leaving the firm effective Sept. 30.
Day4 Energy reported revenues of US$23.3 million, a decline from its reported earnings for the Q2 2010, but a US$4.4 million increase from Q1 2011. While the company noted sales of US$2.6 million, which it accredits to its acquisition of ACI ecoTec, it notes that sales numbers did decrease when compared to previous years due to the overall instability that the solar industry has been going through over the past few months. However, Day4 acknowledged that its sales increased over Q1 2011, mainly because of the Italian government’s FiT resolution.
As a consequence of Evergreen Solar’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, Nasdaq has notified the company that it will be suspended at the opening of business on August 24. Based on Nasdaq rules, Evergreen Solar’s common stock will be delisted but the company may trade on the OTC Bulletin Board or the Pink OTC Markets. However, this will require at least one market maker to quote Evergreen Solar’s common stock, though this is not given, it normally happens.
JA Solar Holdings revealed that it has signed a supply agreement with China Power Investment’s subsidiary, Huanghe Hydropower Development, for the delivery of nearly 21MW of solar products by September. The PV modules will be used for a solar project being developed in Qinghai, China.
BrightSource Energy has welcomed Joe Desmond as senior VP of government affairs and communications, Stephen Wiley as senior VP of US development and Yasser Dib as regional VP of international business development to its executive management team. Between them, the three new recruits hold nearly 60 years of experience in the energy sector.
US-based project developer SPI Solar said it has been awarded two new contracts worth 14.1MW. The first project is a 4.4MW fixed-ground-mount solar power plant located in Evros, a northeastern region of Greece, while the second project is for a 9.7MW fixed-ground-mount solar power plant for a subsidiary of an international pharmaceutical company’s operations at its New Jersey corporate headquarters. Both projects will use LDK Solar’s PV modules.
Sungevity and Citigroup have created a renewable energy tax equity fund that will support over $50 million of new residential solar lease projects. The installer/integrator company said it has raised funds to support over $120 million in residential solar projects in the US since 2010.
Only hours after PV-Tech reported that Evergreen Solar had said it was in detailed and time-consuming negotiations with holders of its convertible senior secured notes, which had caused the company to delay quarterly SEC filings, the company said it has filed for voluntarily bankruptcy under US Chapter 11. At the same time, Evergreen stated that it has made agreements with certain noteholders with more than 70% the outstanding debt to sell its ‘String Ribbon’ wafer technology business assets. A ‘stalking-horse’ bidding process has been agreed.
A 7MW PV power plant has gone on stream in Ukishima, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, built and operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). The PV plant, built on land owned by Kawasaki City is expected to generate about 7,400MWh per year, or equal to annual total energy consumption of 2,100 households from 38,000 modules. TEPCO said it would operate the plant for 18 years.
