The Australian Federal Government announced its 2010/2011 budget on May 11, showing strong support for renewable energy. The Australian Greens leader, Bob Brown, announced a new AUS$652 million Renewable Energy Future Fund, which will be part of an expanded AUS$5.1 billion Clean Energy Initiative.
LDK Solar's second 5000MT train in its 15,000MT polysilicon plant has achieved mechanical completion and will begin ramping production. The first train is operating at capacity in full closed-loop mode and is on track to produce at the annualized capacity of 5000MT.
Due to a high demand in the second half of 2010, Solarfun Power Holdings will be expanding its module capacity to 900MW, having already reached its original announced capacity of 700MW. The company also announced that it has purchased a cell line from SMIC to increase its cell capacity to above 500MW by July 1.
P. Energy has supplied an automated PV assembly line with a 5MW per year production capacity to KACST in Saudi Arabia. This new PV line is the first ever installed in the country.
Amtech Systems has released its financial results for its fiscal 2010 second quarter, which ended March 31. Net revenue totalled $16.1 million, a 4% increase from the previous $15.5 million. Solar revenue came in at $10.9 million, compared to $11.9 million sequentially. Operating income was reported as $422, 000 from $128,000 sequentially.
SunPower has come out with its first-quarter 2010 results, reporting revenues of $347 million for the period, which compares to $212 million and $548 million in Q1 and Q4 2009, respectively. The company's components segment accounted for 81% of the latest quarterly revenues, while the systems group pulled in 19% of the total. The firm's FY2010 guidance calls for revenues between $2 billion and $2.25 billion.
Distributed solar power harvesting start-up SolarEdge has seen a rapid adoption of its integrated module power harvesting technology in France through one of the top three residential integrators in the country, Solelux Toiture. According to SolarEdge, several hundred of its systems have already been installed this year and the company expects approximately 3,000 to be installed by year's end, equivalent to 10MWp. The firm claims that its power harvesting technology can boost solar energy system production by as much as 25%.
For the duration of a three-year collaborative research project, Suntech Power, Silex Solar and the University of New South Wales will research advanced technology for the enhancement of power conversion efficiencies in crystalline silicon solar cells. AU$5 million was granted to the project from the Australian Solar Institute, making this the largest grant for any grant applicant in the ASI funding call.
Crystalline-silicon module manufacturer, GlobalWatt had chosen KUKA Systems, advanced liquid encapsulant line for its new plant in Saginaw, Michigan. The initial semi-automated line is expected to cost under $10M and be operational by November 2010 with production to begin in the first quarter of 2011. GlobalWatt has a plan of a total capacity over the next three to five years of 500MW in module manufacturing.
Samsung has announced that it will invest US$21bn in renewable energy and healthcare over the next decade, identifying solar cells as one of its future growth drivers. The new investment plans will help Samsung challenge rival companies such as Philips Electronics, General Electric, and Sanyo Electric.
