Shaanxi Tianhong Silicon Industrial Corp. in Xian City, China, has successfully started polysilicon production at its 1,250MT plant, according to turnkey plant provider centrotherm photovoltaics. The plant was planned and developed by centrotherm SiTec, a subsidiary of centrotherm formed out of centrotherm’s acquisition of SolMic and from its former subsidiary centrotherm SiQ. This is the second turnkey plant the company has successfully completed.
Trina Solar saw its second-quarter revenues increase over the previous quarter although sales numbers were down from the same period in 2008, while net income went back into the black compared to the first quarter. The Chinese integrated photovoltaics manufacturer shipped nearly 31% more modules in the quarter versus the preceding three months. The company also said it expects to reach nearly 600MW in PV cell and module production capacity by the end of this year.
Solar industry veteran PM Pai has joined global venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA) as a venture partner. Pai, who has more than 30 years of manufacturing and mass production expertise spanning several industries, will work with NEA's energy technology team. He is already on the boards of two of the VC's portfolio companies, silicon solar-cell manufacturer Suniva and Deeya Energy, an advanced energy storage developer.
Atlas Material Testing Technology, in partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Institute of Laser Technology (ILOT), received the R&D 100 award for its work in developing the Ultra-Accelerated Weathering System (UAWS).
For months now we have been reporting on the global recession and how this has been negatively affecting the PV market world-wide; now, countries such as Germany and France have emerged from the recession announcing a market surge which could in turn improve the prospects for the 2009 solar market results. This surprise return to growth from the eurozone's two biggest economies boosts the hopes for the PV market, rising up from the most serious financial crisis since the 1930s. Germany has not reported a positive market growth since the first quarter of 2008.
Two organic photovoltaics development companies have taken steps forward on the road to commercialization. Ten Plextronics' test modules have been deployed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for outdoor monitoring and performance testing--the first set of OPV modules under sun at NREL--while Solarmer Energy has won a $450,000 contract from the FlexTech Alliance to design and synthesize high-efficiency donor polymer materials for OPV uses.
Shell plans to focus on biofuels and exit the solar photovoltaics business, selling its 50% share of thin-film PV company Avancis to joint-venture partner, Saint-Gobain. The German firm produces copper-indium-selenide (CIS) modules at its 20MW plant, which came online last year. Saint-Gobain said that it will "accelerate the industrial development of Avancis." Two additional production lines are being ramped up at the manufacturing site in Torgau, Saxony.
Carefully citing the longer-term demand for polysilicon from the photovoltaics industry, Tokuyama Corp. has doubled the planned capacity of a new polysilicon plant, originally announced in November 2008. Instead of a planned 3000MT capacity, the facility's nameplate will be boosted to 6000MT. Full capacity is expected in 2013. Construction of the plant is estimated to cost approximately ¥65 billion.
Henning Wicht, iSuppli's senior director and principal analyst for photovoltaics market research, has become increasingly bearish on the photovoltaics industry due to the severe overcapacity throughout the supply chain. In a new report, Wicht projects that PV module production--which is still expanding--will reach a capacity of 7.5GW in 2009, however installations will only reach 3.9GW. This means that nearly half of all solar panels produced in 2009 will remain unsold and a massive inventory build will persist until 2012.
DayStar Technologies, a copper-indium-gallium-(di)selenide thin-film PV developer based in Santa Clara, CA, is running out of money. Although the company posted a smaller net loss in its just-announced second-quarter results than it experienced in the first quarter and the value of its net property and equipment has risen to $50 million because of increased investment during the period, its cash and cash equivalents have dwindled to $1.3 million. As a result of its financial woes, DayStar says it will need "substantial funds in the near term" to continue operations, ramp its first production line, and begin shipping products, and a failure to raise such monies may result in the company declaring bankruptcy and possibly shutting down part or all of its operations.
