LDK Solar has succumbed to the slowing demand for solar wafers from its customer base that includes Q-Cells, Sharp and Suntech, having revised revenue estimates significantly downwards for its fourth quarter guidance. The revised revenue is between US$425 and US$435 million, compared to its previous projection of between US$555 to $565 million. Wafer shipments were previously projected to be in the range of 260 to 270MW but are now expected to be in the range of 245 to 255MW. Gross margins have also been seriously affected with guidance revised to between 10% and 13%, compared to gross margins of between 18% and 21%, issued previously.
Solar start-up companies accounted for more than half of the $2.5 billion-plus in venture capital investments made in the final quarter of 2008, according to the latest Venture Power Report issued by Greentech Media. Twenty-nine VC rounds in the solar sector were completed during the quarter, for a total of almost $1.336 billion, outpacing the next busiest sector--ethanol/biofuels/gasification--by a wide margin. The report says that investment numbers should stay strong through 2009, with smart grid, energy storage, and energy efficiency applications as areas of likely focus.
Accompanying the news of its appointment of a new CFO, JA Solar has announced that it has agreed to supply 60MW of polycrystalline PV cells to Solar Power, Inc. (SPI) in 2009, with the supply taking effect immediately. The one-year supply agreement will comply with Solar Power’s monthly cell requirements and will see the cells used in the production of SPI’s solar modules for distribution in Europe, Asia, and for turnkey systems in the United States.
China Technology Development Group Corporation has signed an initial contract with the local government of Qinghai Haixi Mongolian-Tibetan Autonomous Region for the construction and operation of a 30MW on-grid solar power plant at a cost of US$150 million. Construction is expected to start sometime in 2009 and has a targeted capacity of 1GW, according to CTDC, without providing a timescale or further financial details of the ambitious and potentially the largest single PV based power plant in the world.
Several of the most popular stories in the Power Generation section of PV-Tech were related to research on new technologies for the improvement of cell efficiencies. A very recent report by Greentech Media on First Solar’s apparent achievement of grid parity created ripples throughout the industry. Mark Bachman, a senior research analyst with Pacific Crest, presented his aggregated numbers via the report that claimed that First Solar has indeed reached the grid parity mecca.
With the emergence from stealth mode of a suite of thin-film companies, many U.S.-based, our North American contributing editor Tom Cheyney has been right in the thick of the reporting action all year. His ‘Chip Shots’ blog has proven such a massive hit in 2008 with PV-Tech readers that it is almost impossible to be selective in picking just a few to mention here in this review.
The PV industry has had another explosive growth year in 2008. As is often the case, news in only the last few months of the year have painted the perception that things are turning for the worse as the credit crunch manifested in the U.S. turns into a global economic recession, impacting the growth in the PV sector along the way. When reviewing the top news stories within the ‘Market Watch’ section, it was pleasing to see that there was a balanced mix between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ news that generated the most traffic.
China Sunergy has signed a one-year agreement to supply multicrystalline solar cells to privately owned Indian module manufacturer Ajit Solar. The deal calls for the PV manufacturer to deliver 12 MW of cells to Ajit next year.
Green Energy Technology has become the latest company--and the first in Taiwan--employing Applied Materials' SunFab amorphous-silicon thin-film PV module turnkey manufacturing line technology to achieve volume production status. The Taiwanese firm said it will reach an annualized capacity of 30 MW on its Generation 8.5 large-area glass line in the first quarter of 2009, and then ramp to 50 MW by the fourth quarter.
The materials sector of the photovoltaics industry saw quite a few developments in the past year. Polysilicon cost, especially given the ongoing economic downturn, had risen for most of 2008, but the expected rise in polysilicon supply has seen prices fall by around 50% over the course of the year.
