BTU International has released its financial results for the first quarter of 2010, ended April 4. First quarter net sales were US$17.2 million, up 42.5% compared with US$12.1 million in the preceding quarter, and up 75.3% compared to US$9.8 million for the same quarter in 2009.
Phoenix Solar has won tenders for two new solar power plants using First Solar’s CdTe thin-film modules from SWT Stadtwerke Trier, the city utility for Trier, Germany. The first project in Bitburg will start construction this week and employ 72,000 modules for an installed capacity of 5.6MW. The second project will use 28,000 First Solar modules, generating a peak power of around 2.2MW, will be assembled in Fell. Phoenix Solar has now worked on 11 such projects in the region.
In the grand scheme of things data released by UK utility, npower may seem rather insignificant but is actually a major boost to the realization that photovoltaics in the UK is taking off and that demand is far exceeding expectations just a month after the UK government introduced the first feed-in tariff that parallels other good systems in place in Germany, Italy and France. Confirmed figures given to PV-Tech from the utility meann that a total of 55 PV systems were installed by its installation partner Ecofirst Ltd, since the beginning of April, 2010 when the tariff was introduced.
Solon has officially celebrated its newest solar module production line in Greifswald, Germany. The minister president of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, state minister for economic affairs and the mayor of Greifswald were on hand at the ceremony and sanctioned the beginning of production. In addition to the 60 new jobs the production line has created, Solon has increased its site manufacturing capacity to 185MWp.
SolarEdge Technologies and Albatech have come together to expand SolarEdge’s Italian business with its power harvesting solution. Since the Italian solar market is one of the most rapid growing in Europe, the companies look to market SolarEdge’s product towards installers and system owners to help them benefit from hassle free design, real-time module level monitoring, better maintenance at a lower cost, favourable site-area utilization, theft prevention, improved safety and reliability for the quicker return on investment.
Avancis and Donauer have announced their partnership for Avancis’ PowerMax CIS thin-film solar modules. The Avancis’ modules have an output of 100-120W and carry a 12% efficiency rate, making them the first CIS thin-film modules to be integrated into Donauer’s portfolio.
Updated: In what looks like a strategy to better compete with low-cost Asia-based solar module manufacturers after losing significant market share in some of its core markets, SunPower has secretly sourced from third-party suppliers a SunPower-branded multicrystalline module ‘Serengeti’ to be used in commercial applications. The scoop was revealed by financial analyst Mark Bachman of investment firm Auriga USA. According to Bachman, who discovered the product on SunPower’s website in an unlinked location, believes SunPower’s competitive argument that the company’s high-efficiency monocrystalline modules can compete effectively with lower-priced Asian modules is now in question. SunPower has not officially launched the product.
Akeena Solar has announced its results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2010. The company reports total revenue of US$6.5 million with a gross profit margin of 23% with strong bookings. Compared to the year-end, backlog increased US$2.0 million, and was more than double the US$4.8 million backlog at the end of the first quarter of 2009.
SunPower has signed an agreement with Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), completing contractual arrangements between the companies for the development of a 250MW solar photovoltaic power plant in San Luis Obispo County, CA.
Hoku Materials has announced the successful production of polysilicon at its manufacturing facility in Pocatello, Idaho. The company produced the material after completing a comprehensive system commissioning protocol which culminated in deposition runs in a select number of its installed polysilicon reactors.
