Despite only a small improvement in solar inverter component supply expected in the second-half of the year, IMS Research has raised its forecast for global photovoltaics system installations. The market research firm expects installs to reach 14.6 GW, a 95% increase from 2009 and nearly three times size of the market back in 2008. Increased demand from Germany and other European countries is fuelling demand but growth in other regions such as the U.S. is playing a part, IMS Research said.
Yingli Green has begun the initial production of its latest 400MW capacity expansion, including 300MW of Panda monocrystalline silicon-based production capacity at the Baoding headquarters, and 100MW of multicrystalline silicon-based production capacity in Haikou, Hainan Province.
LDK Solar has signed a contract to supply 13MW of solar modules to the Power Systems division of Italy-based ABB. The modules will be delivered in the third quarter of 2010 in the first stage of a wider cooperation agreement, which is under negotiation, to supply ABB with larger volumes of solar modules in the remainder of 2010 and 2011.
Leshan Ledian Tianwei Silicon-Tech formally signed itsacknowledgement that it had chosen Poly Plant Project’s (PPP) CVD silicon deposition Reactor for Leshan’s polysilicon product plant in Leshan, China.
Jörg Eggersdorfer, current member of IBC Solar's board of directors and commercial director since 2009, has been appointed company chief financial officer. Eggersdorfer will maintain responsibility for accounting, financial controlling, human resources, IT, order processing and logistics.
Meyer Burger has appointed a new chief executive officer at its subsidiary, 3S Swiss Solar Systems, as predecessor Dr. Patrick Hofer-Noser turns his focus to his role within the company as chief technology officer and executive board member. Philippe Baur will now assume the responsibilities of this position, as of July 26.
Jiangsu Zhongneng Polysilicon Technology Development, a subsidiary of GCL-Poly, has begun commercial operations at its 200,000MT hydrochlorination facilities. The facilities ensure the stable production of polysilicon and significant upgrade of product quality to a higher level, allowing full recycling of by-products, and achieving lower polysilicon production cost to reach levels similar to that of global incumbents.
The newest executive team member for Critical Manufacturing comes in the form of Jeff Peabody who was newly appointed as VP of sales and business development. Peabody brings eighteen years of senior marketing and sales positions for factory automation solutions in semiconductor manufacturing. Most recently, Peabody held a senior position with Global Services Group of Applied Materials.
Colorado and Arizona are the newest states to whom KACO and Sungevity have extended their iQuote online sales tool availability. The system allows for homeowner’s to import simple data points into the Sungevity online portal and receive an iQuote within 24 hours. Many of the iQuote systems have been installed with Blueplant inverters from KACO.
As the photovoltaic marketplace expands by the day, pvXchange declares that after just six months of business in 2010 it has already brokered more modules and inverters than during the course of the whole of 2009. The online trading platform, which buys and sells solar photovoltaic equipment, has also seen a further 1,000 participants registering online since the beginning of this year.
