Meyer Burger Technology has had an impressive few weeks scoring two big orders and has added a third order from a customer in Asia. The US$57.1 million (CHF55 million) deal will see MB Wafertec, a division of Meyer Burger, supply slicing, bricking and automated gluing systems while wafer inspection systems will be delivered by Hennecke Systems. Delivery is scheduled for 2011.
With an efficiency gain of nearly 1% in just six months, SoloPower has had certified a new, wider flexible CIGS module that is capable of producing up to 260Wp and has 12.1% aperture efficiency, as measured by NREL. The SFX3 module is claimed to be the most powerful flexible CIGS module currently in production. SoloPower says it has the first and only flexible CIGS products certified to both UL 1703 and IEC (61646 and 61730) standards.
SolarReserve's 150MW Crossroads Solar Energy Project has received Certificates of Environmental Compatibility (CEC) from the Arizona Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee. The project and its associated transmission line, which will utilize Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne's molten salt, power tower technology, is located close to the town of Gila Bend in Maricopa County, Arizona and has the potential to generate 450,000MWh of electricity per year.
Solon SE has sold its Swiss subsidiary, Solon Inverters AG, to Delta Energy Systems. The companies have chosen not to disclose the details of the sale, which is the latest stage in Solon SE's plan to concentrate resources on key markets and products.
NRG Solar has purchased First Solar's 290MW Agua Caliente solar plant in Yuma County, Arizona. When it is completed in 2014, Agua Caliente is expected to become the world's largest operational PV facility and supply electricity for more than 225,000 homes in the region.
The board of directors for China Technology Development Group (CTDC) have newly appointed Liao Lin-Hsiang as the chief operating officer and Bruno Diaz Herrera as chief technology officer effective December 13, 2010. Liao will take over for Lu Zhenwei who resigned from his COO position, but has continued on as executive director for CTDC.
A new report by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research entitled, U.S. Solar Energy Trade Assessment 2010, found that the U.S. not only has a strong solar industry, but is a leader in the net exportation of solar energy products. In 2009, US$723 million worth of net exports came from the U.S. alone.
Solar Semiconductor and Solaria have entered into an agreement where Solar Semiconductor will produce Solaria’s solar modules at its Hyderabad, India manufacturing plant. Solaria looks at this move as a strategic way to meet demands for its solar modules in India. In addition to producing its solar modules in India, Solaria is also expanding its Fremont, California manufacturing plant to help meet the needs of the U.S. and other markets.
Updated: In an attempt to nearly double capital expenditure by as much as US$1.1 billion over the next two years, First Solar hopes to achieve sales of between US$3.7 billion and US$3.9 billion in 2011 as new capacity comes on stream. The financial projection was given as part of its conference call to discuss 2011 operating performance for the thin-film PV leader. First Solar also expects net module sales of US$2.8 billion and US$2.9 billion with US$0.9 billion to US$1.0 billion of EPC/project development sales in 2011.
