ReneSola said it has progressed on two manufacturing fronts, with the start of trial production of its in-house steel wire used for slicing solar wafers and the development of a new generation of higher capacity casting furnaces.
Just across the border with California is Mexicali, Mexico, which has long been promoting its lower cost-base and unique location to the biggest market in the world. Citing the need to meet demand for the rapidly expanding North American solar market, SunPower said it will lease an existing building in Mexicali to build its E18 series, E19 series and world-record setting E20 series solar panels as well as its T5 solar roof tiles.
(UPDATED) First Solar has reported second-quarter 2011 net sales of US$533 million in the quarter, a decrease of US$34.5 million from the first quarter, which were a decrease of US$42.5 million from the fourth quarter of 2010. The CdTe thin-film leader noted that the sales decline was primarily due to lower average selling prices, which in turn were due to policy uncertainties in Italy, Germany and France, leading to weaker-than-expected demand.
One of the largest solar PV power plants in North America will be expanded, nearly quadrupling its generating capacity in a few years. Pacific Gas and Electric and Sempra Generation have signed a 25-year contract for a 150MW (AC) expansion of Sempra Generation’s Copper Mountain Solar complex in Boulder City, NV. First Solar will provide millions of ground-mounted thin-film CdTe panels and serve as the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor for the 1100-acre project.
Despite current weakness in solar related equipment spending, due to weak demand for PV modules in the first half of the year and a longer than expected inventory build, GT Solar posted first quarter financial year revenue of US$231.1 million, compared to US$271.6 million last quarter and up 71% from the US$135.2 million of revenue in the first quarter of fiscal 2011. Record order backlog stood at US$2.3 billion.
Phoenix Solar Singapore has placed an order with Schott Solar for 67,000 PV modules, equivalent to approximately 16MW for two projects being developed near Bangkok, Thailand since June, 2011. The contract on supplying these modules was said to have been negotiated at this year’s Intersolar Europe. The two installations are expected to go into operation by the end of the year.
India-based, Mahindra EPC Services is using SunPower solar panels and T0 Tracker technology for multiple grid-connected solar power plants in India in the Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat regions, planned for this year. In total, SunPower is supply 15MW of modules and trackers and is the first partnership SunPower has had with the EPC contractor in India.
Not be outdone by rivals such as Yingli Green in the utility-scale PV power plant business in China, Trina Solar has secured a 30MW module supply agreement with Huanghe Hydropower Development Co. Huanghe Hydropower is planning two ground-mounted solar projects in China's Qinghai Province, of which delivery is expected to start from August and continue through October of this year.
A US$50 million fund is up for grabs by the US Department of Energy to domestic PV manufacturers wanting to take solar technology from the lab to the fab to help restore the United States as being at the forefront of solar manufacturing. The funding program is the second solar Photovoltaic Manufacturing Initiative (PVMI) initiative, dubbed SUNPATH, which stands for Scaling Up Nascent PV At Home.
