Having experienced a significant decline in equipment sales this year, Manz Automation is expecting a new wave of capital equipment spending as PV manufacturers will need to boost cell conversion efficiencies to remain competitive. Although the company expects to be profitable in the fourth quarter due to a pick-up in sales and an order backlog of €78 million. Manz expects a loss for the year due to weak market conditions for the majority of the year. The company guided full year revenue of between €80 and €85 million.
MiaSolé has appointed Kevin Eassa as the new vice president for manufacturing and operations. Eassa brings over 26 years of manufacturing experience, specifically in the disc drive industry with Seagate Technology. While at Seagate he oversaw the rapid global expansion of the company’s manufacturing and operations in five countries and three continents.
According to German news stories and confirmed by Q-Cells to PV-Tech, the PV project arm of the company is planning to construct the world's largest solar plant at a former military airfield in Brandenburg-Briest at an estimated cost of €400 million. The project could use approximately 730,000 solar modules and occupy a 400-acre area. A decision by the Brandenburg-Briest city council is expected this month.
Enfinity and Titan Energy have announced their plans to work in partnership to finance and construct 1GWp photovoltaic installations on 3000 acres of land in Andhra Pradesh, India, over the next five years. The Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) will distribute, in long lease, the 3000 acres in the villages of Thumalla, Dademavaripalli, Pulikuntapalli, Karimireddypalli and Lokogipalli and at the industrial park of Amadugur near Kadiri.
Sales in GT Solar’s second quarter FY2010 declined to US$104.2 million, compared to sales in the first quarter of US$140.2, highlighting the lumpiness in revenue generation of its furnace business as its order backlog stood at US$1.03 billion, down from US$1.115 billion in the previous quarter. New orders received in the quarter were US$20.1 million. De-booking was US$10.6million. Deferred revenue on equipment already shipped stood at US$472 million. Total new booking for the year stood at US$66.5 million.
Touted as the largest urban solar power plant in the U.S. a 10MW facility on the south-side of Chicago, the new plant will use Satcon’s 1MW Prism inverters. The site, owned and operated by Exelon Generation, was designed and is being constructed by SunPower Corp, using approximately 32,300 of its solar modules as well as SunPower’s trackers.
Continuing its trend for this year to expand its European administration, Suntech Power has added to its management board with the appointment of four new senior executives. David Hogg is head of Suntech Europe, Vedat Gurgeli is VP of Sales Europe, Frank Weber is Marketing Director of Europe and Carl von Braun is Director of Project Finance Europe.
Sunfilm released that it has completed the delivery of its thin-film tandem junction modules for the 700kWp Weinmann Aach rooftop installation in Dornstetten, Black Forest, Germany. This is said to be the largest roof installation of its kind in Germany and was contracted by Sunova AG. Sunfilm imparted their module Model Q, the smallest out of five available formats, for the project.
Energy Innovations announced that it has signed a contract to provide its Sunflower system for installation in Masdar City. The project, located near Abu Dhabi in the UAE, is touted to be the first carbon neutral, zero waste city powered entirely by renewable energy in the world. It is also the headquarters for the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
Following through with their strategic agreement to build utility-scale and commercial roof top solar projects, Suntech and Huadian New Energy (HNE) will be developing a 10MW solar power plant in Dongtai, Jiangsu Province, China. Suntech will supply around 37,000 of its solar panels while also handling the design and installation of the plant.
