Q-Cells reached a deal with LDK Solar allowing the company to repay the remaining amount of, US$224.9 million, which Q-Cells loaned in 2008, in its entirety by the end of 2011. Payments of US$195 million from LDK Solar have been agreed to until the end of this year with an initial payment of US$56.2 million having already been made. Q-Cells has two unpaid convertible bonds with repayment of US$642.3 million for the first bond due in February 2012.
Although not citing confirmed orders from the recent EU PVSEC in Valencia, regarded by many suppliers to the PV manufacturing industry as the most important event each year, centrotherm photovoltaics has confirmed it is in advanced contract negotiations with well-known companies up and down the supply chain. centrotherm photovoltaics is the second largest equipment supplier in the sector, after Applied Materials.
Phoenix Solar Pte created a new subsidiary in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Phoenix Solar Sdn Bhd. The Malaysian subsidiary will focus on turnkey ground-mounted and rooftop PV plants as well as stand-alone PV systems and building-integrated solar plants. The news comes after July’s announcement by Malaysia’s Ministry of Energy for feed in-tariffs on PV plants beginning in 2011.
Underwriters Laboratories and Atlas Materials Testing Technology released key information for the PV Durability Asia conference. Scheduled to take place December 7th through 8th, 2010, at the Crown Plaza Century Park Shanghai Hotel, China, it will focus on the developments, research and new approaches for environmental durability, performance and service life of materials. Additionally, the conference will center on compliance and certification testing with topics on module manufacturers and suppliers.
Global solar inverter shipments are expected to surpass 23.3 million units by 2014, up by a factor of nine from 2.6 million in 2010, according to a new report from iSuppli Corp. Revenue will subsequently increase to US$8.9 billion in 2014, up from US$5.3 billion in 2010. This would result in solar inverters sales becoming one of the highest-volume ruggedized electronic systems sold, according to report author Greg Sheppard. Despite such soaring demand, the average price per watt for inverters worldwide will decline by 13.5% this year. In particular, Asian suppliers are trying to drive prices down with lower costs, Sheppard noted, even though they have been challenged to deliver bankability.
The European Commission recently approved a US$126.8 million (€97.5 million) regional investment aid, which German authorities will be endowing to Wacker Chemie to produce solar grade polysilicon in Nünchritz, eastern Germany. The EU Commission concluded that the act was in line with the requirements for the Regional Aid Guidelines 2007-2013. The US$126.8 million grant will go towards the expansion of Wacker’s facility in Nünchritz, which will add a solar grade polysilicon plant next to its silicon/silane plant.
Azure Power has welcomed Glen Minyard to its team as the new vice president of design and engineering. The company is looking at Minyard to oversee its commercial and off-grid business, deeming him a solar power veteran. He was the founder of Minyard Solar Electric and brings over thirty years of experience in covers design, supply, project management and complete installation of residential and large-scale commercial PV and renewable energy projects.
The California Energy Commission has given its unanimous approval to Solar Millennium to build and operate the Blythe Solar Power Project in Riverside County, a planned 1GW concentrated solar power (CSP) plant that would be one of the largest solar generating stations in the world. Construction on the first pair of four planned 250MW parabolic-trough CSP sections is scheduled to begin by the end of the year.
Adding to the company’s ever-expanding portfolio of large-scale installations, SunEdison has won the contract to provide a 14.5MW ground-mounted solar power installation at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (DMAFB) in Tucson, Arizona. The agreement will see SunEdison look after the financing, design, construction, operation and maintenance of the ~130 acre site, which, upon completion, will provide as much as 35% of DMAFB’s energy needs.
A B2B forum scheduled to run from October 12th to 14th has been arranged with the intention of creating some form of cooperation between solar ventures and plans in Russia and Bulgaria. The “Rising Opportunities - 1st Russian Bulgarian Solar Business Forum” will take place in the Palm Beach hotel in Golden Sands, Bulgaria, and all important actors in both the solar PV and solar thermal sectors are expected to attend.
