Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology has revealed its intention to acquire Alcatel-Lucent's Adixen vacuum technology unit, headquartered in Annecy, France. Negotiations on the purchase of the companies, patents and licenses belonging to this unit have been largely finalized with Pfeiffer Vacuum's supervisory board consenting to the acquisition on November 3.
The Chinese National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has approved a pre-feasibility study for the construction of the first phase of First Solar's 30MW thin-film solar power plant located in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia. This phase marks the beginning of 2GW which are to be implemented in the area through 2019.
SunPower has agreed to collaborate with Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs and ConEdison Development for the construction of a 1.2MW ground-mounted solar system on six acres of Bell Labs headquarters in Murray Hill, New Jersey. Anticipated to be fully up and running by next spring, the solar system will use SunPower’s T0 Trackers on over 3,700 solar panels.
HyperSolar has recruited Martin Adams as its new director of technology, where he will be responsible for the design and engineering of the company’s thin optical layer. Adams brings a 35-year background in the advancement of emerging technologies for lighting design and prototyping.
An ambitious plan, which hasn’t been without implementation issues and which has stretched the financial structure of REC Group, is finally bearing fruit according to key executives of the company. At a lengthy investor and analyst seminar being held in Singapore, coinciding with the grand opening of the company's €1.3 billion plus integrated module production facility, enigmatic CEO Ole Enger claimed REC was on track to deliver a companywide all inclusive cost of €0.97/watt by the fourth quarter 2011. Excluding equipment and building depreciation at the new plant, the cash cost target for next year would be €0.74/watt.
Yingli Green Energy held an investor day on November 3, 2010 with key executive team members discussing the outlook for the company over the next year. Zongwei Li, Yingli’s director and CFO, began the day and highlighted that Yingli had obtained 575MW of purchases under legally binding sales contracts and anticipated the number to rise to 1,000MW by the end of this year. Most of the sales contracts have a required prepayment from the customers, although Li stated that Yingli is forecasting a somewhat flat trend in the average selling price during its fourth quarter, which will develop into a stable level in the first half of 2011, followed by a modest decline in the second half of next year.
The CFO of China Sunergy has left the company. Siegfried Yi Chou Hsu has resigned from his current role for personal reasons, effective Oct. 31. While a search for his replacement has begun, the company named Yongfei Chen as financial controller, who will manage daily financial operations in the interim.
MEMC Electronic Materials reported a 31% sequential increase in solar materials sales, primarily from wafers, in its third-quarter results. A 20% increase in shipments and modest improvement in wafer ASPs helped sales for the group reach sales of US$503.1 million, up 12.2% from US$448.3 million in the second quarter of 2010. Its subsidiary, SunEdison, reported sales of US$21.5 million and has 1,023MW in its project pipeline, of which 155MW is under construction.
Tempress Systems, a solar subsidiary of Amtech Systems, has obtained US$33 million in new solar orders from numerous Asian customers. The customers, both new and existing for the company, ordered Tempress’s diffusion processing systems this past October.
Oerlikon Solar's €16.7 million research project "Pepper" will receive a €9.4 million funding grant under the Framework Programme for Research of the European Union, coordinated by the DG Energy of the European Commission. The project, which began on September 1, is aimed at demonstrating high performance processes and equipment for thin-film silicon photovoltaics modules produced with lower costs, reduced material use, and an improved environmental-friendly production process.
