After significant polysilicon and wafer price declines in 2009, MEMC executives have become more upbeat about demand and price stability entering the first quarter of 2010 and beyond. In a conference call to discuss fourth quarter results, the company noted that capacity utilization of silicon wafer production was at approximately 80%, with a demand recovery underway in the semiconductor industry, enabling a firming in prices to that sector. In solar, price declines were said to have moderated and the company was now shipping wafers to 10 of the top 25 PV manufacturers, compared to having made shipments to only 2 solar customers at the beginning of 2009.
Dow Corning has reported consolidated net income of US$270.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2009, an increase of 57% from net income of $172.6 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Cylindrical thin-film PV manufacturer Solyndra has signed a new distribution agreement with Allied Building Products, a leading U.S. distributor of roofing, solar and other building products and materials. Allied will be the CIGS solar company's first North American distributor.
Sanyo North America and InSpec have formed a partnership agreement aimed at providing total energy solutions for customers seeking to reduce energy consumption and improve the overall efficiency of their facility operations.
Solyndra has tapped former First Solar executive John Gaffney as its new senior VP of corporate development and general counsel. He will lead the CIGS thin-film PV company's legal and corporate development activities and will report to CEO Chris Gronet.
In the latest move by a solar manufacturer to take advantage of the lucrative feed-in tariffs in Ontario, the Siliken Group plans to build a crystalline-silicon photovoltaics module production plant in the Canadian province. Set for an initial capacity of 50MW, the factory could start operations in the last quarter of this year and create as many as 150 jobs, according to the Spanish firm.
Soliant Energy has brought Marco DeMiroz back on board as its chief operating officer and chief financial officer. DeMiroz, who served as the concentrator photovoltaics company's interim CEO last year, will report to chairman/CEO Terry Bailey.
An investigation by the European Commission that started in 2008, has led to the withdrawal of a €11.6 million EU grant for the construction of Sovello’s first ‘String Ribbon’ PV manufacturing plant in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The European Commission said that influence of the shareholder Q-Cells had been significantly greater than its 24.9 % share holding, which meant that the ‘SME Bonus’ given to small and medium size enterprises did not apply to Sovello, formerly EverQ.
The first Applied Materials ‘SunFab’ thin film customer to switch to tandem junction silicon cell structures, Sunfilm has also integrated three ‘Sensic’ in-line metrology tools from Basler Vision Technologies to provide required quality inspection throughout the process flow. Basler is best known for inspection systems used in the LCD industry. The systems have now been adapted and optimized for the thin-film industry.
