Bisol and Avdira Solar have entered a contract, which will see Avdira Solar distributing 100MW of Bisol’s solar PV modules over the next three years. Avdira will commence with the delivery of its first 25MW throughout 2012. Both companies advised that the agreement was a way for them to each have a better foothold in the Greek solar market.
Solon will be building a 10MW solar PV plant near Kingman, Arizona for UniSource Energy Services (UES), which, under a 20-year PPA, will allow the utility to provide renewable power to its customers without the upfront cost of the system installation. The 10MW array will accompany the 1.22MW UES-owned solar array that Solon developed near Kingman’s La Senita Elementary School.
In August it was reported that project executive Activ Solar had completed the first two stages of its solar project in Okhotnykovo, Ukraine. Now with the final phase of construction realized, this Austrian PV company has accomplished its goal to have the largest solar plant in central and eastern Europe.
Earlier this year, Veeco announced its impending exit from the CIGS thin-film PV business and with its announcement advised of its intentions to transfer its R&D facility and pilot line in New York to the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) at the University of Albany. Three months after the initial declaration, Dr. Alain Kaloyeros, Senior VP and CEO of CNSE, and Congressman Chris Gibson, came together to formally launch CNSE’s new Solar Energy Development Center in Halfmoon, New York, which has taken over the facility once occupied by Veeco.
SiOnyx has advised that its patented ultrafast laser texturing technology, Black Silicon, has reached 0.3%, absolute, efficiency growth over typical industry baseline solar cells. The company’s 156mm multicrystalline silicon cells, which are manufactured under a partnership with ISC Konstanz, is said to have attained average absolute efficiencies over 17%.
Sequel Power, a division of Tegal, has opened offices in South America for the development of large-scale solar utility projects in the region. The offices in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Santiago, Chile will serve the company’s customers and partners in South America and are overseen by Price Alexander von Sachsen, Sequel’s chairman of South America, the Middle East and Africa. The company currently has large-scale PV solar utilities projects underway in Argentina, Chile and Ecuador.
Martifer Solar has installed a 4.5kWp off-grid system in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, with enhanced Martifer PV modules, SMA inverters and Sonnenschein batteries
JinkoSolar Holding has provided a calm and unruffled response to the SolarWorld/CASM petition news, stating that the company intends to carry on its manufacturing practices as normal while the US International Trade Commission (ITC) and the US Department of Commerce (DOC) decide how to respond to the allegations of unfair trading practices on the part of Chinese cell and module manufacturers.
Responding to capacity expansion push-outs and cancellations at solar wafer manufacturing customers, Meyer Burger Technology has set in motion temporary adjustments to equipment production at its subsidiary, MB Wafertec. However, Meyer Burger reiterated that its 2011 net sales and earnings remained on target.
Strong quarterly shipments failed to offer respite from a rapid decline in revenue and profit margins within OCI Chemicals, polysilicon production division in the third quarter of 2011. Revenue in its polysilicon segment fell from KRW572 billion in Q2 to KRW495 billion in Q3. Margins fell from 50% in Q2 to 36% in Q3, according to the company.
