Hanwha Group has signed an exclusive partnership with Hamburger SV. Under the terms of the two-year exclusive partnership, Hanwha will carry out a wide range of advertising campaigns in Hamburg’s Imtech Arena and was also granted naming rights for the club’s pre-season tournament, the Hanwha Solar Cup.
According to The Hindu Business Line, the role of chairman for India’s National Solar Energy Company is to be filled by Dr Anil Kakodkar, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.
Schott Solar advised that it had achieved 20.2% efficiency on its monocrystalline screen-printed solar PV cell; a feat that was confirmed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE). The 4.92W cell uses an industrial sized 156mm x 156mm wafer, which led Schott to maintain that this is the first PV cell of its size to reach this efficiency.
Applied Materials (AMAT) posted a solid financial outcome upon the release of its third quarter 2011 results. Although the company noted that its overall Q3 orders and net sales were down 25% and 3%, respectively, compared to Q2 2011, AMAT still completed the quarter with US$2.39 billion in generated orders and saw its net sales reach the upper end of its previous guidance at US$2.79 billion. Non-GAAP operating income was US$683 million, with a non-GAAP net income of US$467 million, or US$0.35 per share.
Five of First Solar’s senior executives, using personal funds, purchased a combined total of 5,500 shares of the company stock during one of four annual open trading windows for the company’s directors and Section 16 officers. The purchases have been reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission in Form 4 filings where appropriate.
SunPeak Solar advised that it had selected Suntech Power Holdings to supply 28.7MW (DC) of its solar panels for its 23MW (AC) solar project in Niland, California. Suntech will supply 100,000 of its 285/290W Vd-Series modules, which feature its SuperPoly silicon processing technology. SunPeak Solar’s subsidiary, Imperial Valley Solar Company (IVSC) 1, will manage the project’s construction and installation of the modules.
Mitsui and Toshiba are joining forces to build Japan’s largest PV system, according to financial newspaper Nikkei. With a capacity of 50MW, the plant will be considerably bigger than any other in Japan and cover 800,000m2 of Mitsui-owned land in the Aichi Prefecture.
The lower house of Japan's parliament has passed a new green bill aimed at promoting investment in solar and other renewable energy sources and weaning the country off nuclear power. The bill requires utilities to buy any electricity from solar and other renewable sources for up to 20 years and should it be approved by the upper house it will come into force next July.
Trina Solar has posted results of its second-quarter performance, showing a healthy increase in both module shipments and year-on-year net revenue. Logging a gross profit of US$98.3 million for the quarter, which represents a decrease of 35.0% sequentially and 17.3% for the same period last year, the company cited policy changes in Italy and resulting high industry inventory as having had an effect on the company’s sales.
