SunPower’s internal investigation into unsubstantiated accounting entries at its Philippine manufacturing base has made progress, according to the company. The discrepancies were announced in November 2009 and concerned the inclusion of some figures on the financial records for 2009 that may have been intended for inclusion on the 2008 books.
TEPCO’s Ohgishima solar power plant is to be equipped with around 13MW of Kyocera’s solar modules, the company has revealed. The Ohgishima project, dubbed the “Mega Solar System,” is being built by Hitachi with a scheduled completion date in 2011. The modules will be installed on a 57-acre site on an artificial island near Tokyo Bay, one of the largest solar installations in the country.
GCL-Poly Energy Holdings has announced its plans to enter into a joint venture and share subscription agreement with the Chinese wealth fund China Investment Corporation (CIC). The share subscription agreement is expected to raise around HK$5.5 billion, giving CIC a 20% share in GCL. The joint venture company will be set up in early 2010 to invest in and develop PV projects overseas.
The race for higher photovoltaic module efficiencies has heated up and reached a new milestone, with the news that REC and the Energy Research Center of the Netherlands (ECN) have produced the first multicrystalline solar panels to hit 17.0% aperture-area conversion efficiency. The previous world record of 16.53% was announced by Suntech in late September, a result that had topped ECN and its partners' record of 16.4%, which was achieved earlier in the year.
Specialist Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) semiconductor wafer producer, Soitec is to acquire a major holding in concentrated photovoltaic (CPV), Fraunhofer ISE spin-off, Concentrix Solar. Fraunhofer ISE has retained a 20% stake in the start-up, valuing 100% of Concentrix at €55 million. Soitec also announced that would enter into strategic technology alliance with both the Fraunhofer ISE and the CEA-Leti.
In a bid to join the leading global producers of polysilicon, South Korean chemical manufacturer OCI plans to restart construction on a new poly plant inside its existing facility in Gunsan in January. The company (the former DC Chemical) will invest 1 trillion Won (approximately $858.5 million) in its Phase 3 (P3) factory, which will have an annual manufacturing capacity of 10,000 metric tons when commercial production begins in 2011, bringing its total annual poly capability to 27,000 metric tons.
With an intended initial investment of approximately US$95.6 million (HK$ 741 million) to establish a 100MW a-Si thin film production plant, a joint venture is being formed between China Gogreen Energy and Administration Committee of Zhengzhou High and New Technology Industries Development Zone, which is owned by Zhengzhou Municipal People’s Government, Henan Province, China.
Manufacturer of thin-film photovoltaic modules Abound Solar has named Thomas Tiller as CEO. Having served Polaris Industries as CEO for nine years, he will officially take up his position on January 18, 2010. Doug Schatz, current interim CEO for the company, will then become chairman of the board.
Amtech Systems’s Tempress subsidiary has added to its sales balance for 2010 deliveries with multiple new orders from new and existing Asia-based customers worth around US$9 million. The orders are for Tempress’s diffusion processing systems from several new and existing customers in Asia and will be shipped by the end of the third quarter 2010.
Oerlikon Group has announced its plans to restructure its finance base with its syndicate banks. The proposal, submitted by Oerlikon to the banks on November 25th, details its plans to defer repayments of the principal amounts of the term loan and revolving credit facility, lower interest charges and conversion of parts of the bank debt to an equity stake in OC Oerlikon.
