Evergreen Solar's 5MW power plant in Apulia, Italy is now online. The project, which was designed and installed by project developer Greenvision, is the largest installation of Evergreen Solar panels to date.
The grand plan of the Desertec Industrial Initiative has a new member in the form of First Solar, the first solar photovoltaic manufacturer to join. First Solar said that it had become an ‘Associated Partner’ of Desertec for an initial period of three years and would contribute utility-scale PV expertise in working groups and prepare the ground for reference projects and a roll-out plan.
AES has closed its equity sale with a wholly owned investment subsidiary of the China Investment Corporation (CIC). The deal raises US$1.58 billion in new capital for the company. CIC acquired 125.5 million shares of AES stock for US$12.60/share in exchange for an approximate 15% stake in the company.
ECM, the custom developer and manufacturer of electrically conductive interconnect adhesives and gridinks, has appointed Mark Francis as it global business manager for the solar industry.
Solar Millennium CEO, Utz Claassen, has unexpectedly resigned after serving in the position for only three months. The company faced a management shake-up and tumbling shares this morning as the news reached concerned investors. Before exiting the company, Claassen referred to his contractual right to quit his office within a certain period. "The resignation came unexpectedly," said Helmut Pflaumer, chairman of the supervisory board.
China Sunergy has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of two related module manufacturers, CEEG (Shanghai) Solar Science & Technology and CEEG (Nan Jing) New Energy.
In another demonstration of the rush to add new ingot production to meet demand for c-Si solar wafers, Meyer Burger has received an order worth approximately US$235 million for wire saws, cropping saws and wafer inspection systems from an unidentified customer based in Asia. Deliveries of the equipment are expected throughout 2010 and 2011.
ReneSola has made several management changes including the appointment of a new chief strategy officer, CFO, vice president of finance and vice president of wafer sales. All management appointments have been approved by the company's board of directors and will take effect as of April 1, 2010.
Prolonged time frames for weathering testing services for PV modules due to capacity constraints could be easing with the announcement of a strategic alliance between Underwriters Laboratories and Atlas Material Testing Technology. UL currently operates Photovoltaic Centers of Excellence in San Jose, Calif., and Suzhou, China, and will open two new state-of-the-art testing facilities this year: one in Germany and one in Japan. Atlas Weathering Services Group has five laboratories and over 20 outdoor exposure sites around the world in a variety of climates, including desert, subtropical, high-altitude and corrosive.
Norwegian power generator Statkraft has reached an agreement with Siemens Energy to build up to 40MW of new solar capacity in 2010. The company opened its first solar power plant in Aprilia, Italy, which will go towards this goal, on March 11. The 3.3MW Casale solar park is expected to reach the annual power production mark of 4.5GWh.
