BTU International has announced its financial results for the second quarter ended July 4, 2010. Net sales for the period were US$18.0 million, up 4.9% compared to US$17.2 million in the preceding quarter, and up 66.8% compared to US$10.8 million for the same quarter in 2009.
SunEdison has signed on to finance, build, own, operate, monitor and maintain a total capacity of 1.5MW of PV solar energy systems, which will be hosted on the CanFirst Capital Management facilities. The Ontario Power Authority has agreed to purchase the energy produced under the terms of Ontario’s FIT program. CanFirst will benefit with lease revenue for the roof-top space they loan to SunEdison without any upfront capital equipment costs.
Intevac has reported strong financial results for the quarter and six months ended July 3, 2010. Total revenues for the second quarter were US$68.6 million, up 457% year-on-year and 107% quarter-on-quarter, while gross margin was 42.3% and operating margin 21.1%.
Hanwha Chemical is to purchase a 50% stake in Solarfun for a total of 434.1 billion won (US$371 million) in order to diversify revenue sources. The company will purchase 208.3 million shares, including new stock.
Testing at NREL’s Golden, Colorado, research facility has concluded for SolOptics Fusion PV enhancement technology. Fusion is an optics-based surface technology, which NREL concluded can deliver conversion efficiency gains between 10% and 12.5%, depending on testing conditions.
Adema Technologies will be spearheading its newest solar system project at Frito-Lay’s Casa Grande, Arizona, facility. The 5MW solar system will use Gloria Solar’s 225W and 230W solar modules. Frito-Lay purchased the first 1.7MW of the contract with its own funds.
Following the news at the close of last week that Spain was edging ever-closer to the threat of feed-in tariff cuts, the country's industry ministry has now announced that it plans to cut the subsidized electricity prices paid to new photovoltaic solar power plants by up to 45%.
The planned 500MW thin-film plant, to be developed by Enel Green Power, Sharp and STMicroelectronics, has been given a boost with €49 million funding from the CIPE (the Italian Joint Ministerial Committee for Economic planning). The JV has also been given a name: 3Sun. Sharp and Enel have also established a separate company called ESSE which will develop solar farms using the output in the plants in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with a particular focus on the Mediterranean area. The partners reiterated that 3Sun would have an initial capacity of 160MW per year, using Sharp’s triple-junction thin-film technology.
SolarMarkt, a wholesaler and project planner for photovoltaic systems, has been acquired by Würth Solar. Alongside the declaration of this acquisition, Würth also presented its extended company strategy at a press conference in the Schwäbisch Hall, Germany. The company said that it plans to anchor its dynamic growth on five pillars and is planning to increase its sales to over €500 million by 2014.
Despite module and inverter shortages and a lack of well-trained installers as well as significantly higher prices than seen in Germany, the UK solar market is claimed to be the fastest growing in the world right now. According to market research firm iSuppli, solar system installations will reach 96MW in 2010, up 1500% from barely a year ago and before the feed-in tariff (FiT) was introduced in April. In 2009, only 6MW had been installed.
