This year’s PV Fab Managers’ Forum, taking place in Dresden, Germany on March 8th and 9th, looks set to be an event to remember. SEMI’S PV Group, organizers of the Forum, have appointed as hosts eight fab managers from solar cell manufacturing companies. The representatives will be shouldered with the task of working actively with the PV Group to improve the customer-supplier relation in the photovoltaic industry.
REC’s announcement on December 15th, 2008 regarding the requirement of repair work on its Moses Lake Plant III has seen the work continue into the second week of February 2009. It seems there was close to double the expected amount of welding work to be done, leading to the unscheduled delay in preparing the plant for commercial polysilicon production, which has now been scheduled for the second half of March.
ARISE Technologies Corporation has spoken out about its 2008 financial results, which will be officially released on March 9th, 2009. The company saw increases in shipments from its new German plant in the fourth quarter, reaching approximately 6.2MW, a 24% increase from the 5MW shipped in 3Q08, but overall shipments for the second half of the year were down to 11.2MW on the company’s projection OF 12-13MW.
HelioVolt has made changes to its executive management team and is searching for a permanent CEO. Board member Ron Bernal has been appointed as interim CEO and Sanjeev Kumar, the former chief financial officer of Energy Conversion Devices, has joined the Austin-based thin-film PV company as CFO; founder B.J. "Billy" Stanbery will continue to play a key role as chief strategy officer and chairman of the board.
SEMI's PV Group has issued the "Global Photovoltaic Standards Roadmap Guidance Document," which identifies immediate opportunities for reducing cost and accelerating innovation in thin-film and crystalline silicon cell and module manufacturing through industry standards. The document--developed by a team of industry stakeholders including equipment and materials suppliers, cell and module manufacturers, safety experts, and others--offers a high-level assessment of existing SEMI standards and safety guidelines with respect to their applicability to PV manufacturing.
HelioVolt has made changes to its executive management team and is searching for a permanent CEO. Board member Ron Bernal has been appointed as interim CEO and Sanjeev Kumar, the former chief financial officer of Energy Conversion Devices, has joined the Austin-based thin-film PV company as CFO; founder B.J. "Billy" Stanbery will continue to play a key role as chief strategy officer and chairman of the board.
GT Solar International, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOLR), noted that its current backlog stood at US$1.3 billion after releasing its third quarter results that saw revenue reach US$205.2 million, a 46% increase over the previous quarter. Billings were boosted in the quarter with revenue recognition of a US$91.5 million contact for polysilicon reactors from major start-up DC Chemical.
Solar Energy Initiatives, Inc., which markets solar thermal and photovoltaic technologies, have appointed David W. Fann as CEO and Gregory N. Bakemann as President, who will also continue to serve as Chief Financial Officer.
Newport Corporation has continued to expand rapidly into the photovoltaics equipment market, now offering c-Si and thin film products that tap into its core technologies of lasers, motion control and optical systems. The company noted in a conference call with financial analysts to discuss fourth quarter and full-year results that orders to PV manufacturers had grown more than 150% in 2008, to reach US$33.6 million compared with orders of US$13.3 million in 2007.
Yingli Green Energy, a photovoltaic product manufacturer, has appointed Dr. Dengyuan Song as Chief Technology Officer, replacing Dr. Guoxiao Yao, who resigned to pursue other interests. Dr. Song will lead Yingli Green Energy’s research and development initiatives.
