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.
The long and winding road for polysilicon start-up, Hoku Materials looks to straightening after the company said it expected to start operations at its poly plant in Pocatello, Idaho. Hoku said it had received continued financial support from Tianwei New Energy Holdings, to complete construction of its first phase (2,500MT) plant and begin production.
Having previously revised downwards its 2011 revenue guidance, Centrosolar remains positive that it will achieve full-year revenue target of €330 to €380 million with a positive operating result. As international sales as a percentage of sales increased from 49% to 63% in the first-half of the year, the company noted a pick-up in demand for rooftop installations in Italy, UK, Belgium and the USA.
Payom Solar has taken over the remaining 47.4% of US project developer Amsolar Holdings. The German company acquired a majority share of the San Diego-based company in March.
Day4 Energy has signed a deal with Austrian solar module manufactuer PV Products to provide the equipment and technology to upgrade its 30MW production facility for the manufacture of solar panels featuring Day4 DNA crystalline-silicon cells. The upgrade of PVP's automated 30MW production facility to Day4 technology is scheduled to begin immediately, with production anticipated to start in early September, the companies said.
Daniel Matloff has joined 1366 Technologies as its new CFO and is charged for strengthening the company’s financial strategy and managing all finance and accounting transactions as it prepares to commercially-scale its direct wafer technology. Matloff comes to 1366 from Hittite Microwave where he was the corporate controller and previously held various positions at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Thermo Fisher Scientific and PricewaterhouseCoopers. He is a CPA and graduated from Bentley University.
US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has greenlighted the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm, a 550MW (AC) solar power project to be developed, built, and operated by First Solar on 4100 acres of public lands in the California desert outside Joshua Tree National Park. Construction on the site could begin within days.
Saint-Gobain disclosed its plans to acquire the Solar Gard Specialty Films unit from Bekaert, which will be housed under Saint-Gobain’s Performance Plastics division. The agreement, which did not expose the price of the purchase, includes production facilities in San Diego, California, Zulte, Belgium and Suzhou, China, as well as operations under development in China and all global sales and service centers.
Under Upsolar’s new acceptance into the PowerWrap Systems Performance Guarantee Program from PowerGuard Specialty Insurance Services, developers using Upsolar modules will be able to benefit from discounted rates on PowerWrap’s insurance policy guarantee for the output of the entire solar project system.
