Dow Corning has named Samaro, a French specialty chemical product supplier, as the distributor for its silicon-based solar product solutions in France. The French company will be a technical resource and production base for Dow Corning’s solar division while delivering Dow Corning’s solar silicon products to local customers. Samaro has acted as Dow Corning Electronics’ French distributor and will additionally undertake the delivery of Dow Corning’s Molykote brand lubricant applications in North Africa.
Bridgestone is to add a new ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) production line to its factory in ?arów, Poland. An investment of US$58 million will be used to fund the installation, with manufacturing scheduled to begin during the first half of 2013.
China-based polysilicon producer, Daqo New Energy, has reported its first financial year results as a public company, listed on the NYSE. Polysilicon shipments for 2010 were 3,650MT, module shipments were 3.5MW, after starting volume production in the fourth quarter. Revenues in the fourth quarter of 2010 were $81.9 million, an increase of 29.6% from the third quarter of 2010. The increase was mainly due to higher average selling prices for the polysilicon.
Last month’s SNEC exhibition in Shanghai saw Manz Automation bring in new orders and letters of intent to the value of €25 million. The orders were for the company’s laser structuring and wet-chemical processing systems for thin-film modules, and its crystalline cell manufacturing machinery.
Expanding Greece’s PV project portfolio, plans have been announced for the construction of 12.5MW of projects in Greece. Solaria will supply the modules for the various projects, the amount of which has not been specified, while Greek installer company Positive Energy will look after all procurement, engineering and maintenance of the plants.
Abengoa Solar has selected the 3M Solar Mirror Film 1100 for utilisation at one of its concentrated solar thermal projects. The turnkey system, which was installed in June 2010, has been surpassing the set specifications put in place to cut down the energy usage for a hot water storage system.
Western Wind Energy has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) for a 30MW project. The company also agreed a 40-year land lease with the Puerto Rico Land Authority for a 401-acre plot in the municipality of Yabucoa.
Further expanding its presence in the solar PV industry, SiC Processing has successfully closed several contract negotiations. Boosted by the recent SNEC PV Power Expo 2011, which was held in Shanghai, the company has signed off on three separate deals.
RF Micro Devices (RFMD) has engineered a dual-junction PV cell that combines gallium arsenide (GaAs) and indium gallium phosphide (InGaP) PV junctions with its customary six-inch semiconductor equipment. RFMD looks to this new development as a way to progress towards triple-junction structures and reach their definitive goal of creating a commercially feasible and high volume-capable compound semiconductor-based process for high-performance PV cells.
Enphase Energy’s two new European offices, located in France and Italy, have been established in order for the company to better accommodate growing demands of its microinverter system. Both France and Italy have been cited as areas with a burgeoning solar market that stand on the brink of better implementing microinverter technology.
