In another example of consolidation within the solar industry, Advanced Energy Industries has signed a definitive agreement to buy PV Powered, a manufacturer of grid-tied photovoltaic inverters in the residential, commercial, and utility-scale markets.The purchase price, a combination of cash and AE stock, could rise to as high as $90 million, depending on PV Powered's financial performance for the year.
In a post CEO departure management shake-up, the supervisory board of Solar Millennium has appointed Thomas Mayer spokesman for the management board, effective immediately and Oliver Blamberger as new member of the management board.
In brief statements from several of the partners in string-ribbon PV module producer Sovello, the firms acknowledged that an agreement has been made to sell the company to Ventizz Capital Fund IV, L.P for an as-yet undisclosed sum. Closing of the transaction is expected to take place in April. The partners had signed a declaration of intent with the then-unidentified investor in early February.
The Bulgarian State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (SEWRC - DKEVR) has published on its website a proposal to lower the country's solar feed-in tariff rates.
Dynamic Engineering (DEI) has formed a strategic alliance with Polycrystalline Silicon Technology (PST). DEI now offers PST's advanced hydrochlorination technology as well as its fully closed-loop chlorosilane and silane technology.
Acta has signed a preliminary contract with SPF Energy (SPF) for the installation of large-scale photovoltaic parks in Italy during 2010. The installations will be completed through a joint venture partnership with Fedi Impianti (Fedi Impianti), one of Italy's largest PV installation companies.
Underwriters Laboratories has opened what it calls Europe's largest solar PV testing and certification facility--the Photovoltaic Technology Center of Excellence located near the Frankfurt/Main airport in Germany. The new lab joins UL's existing PV centers in San Jose, CA, and Suzhou, China; the company says it also has plans for new facilities in Japan and India in the works.
SolarBridge Technologies has been awarded US$1.5 million from the State of Texas through the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (TETF) for the development of its module-integrated microinverter and management system. SolarBridge will use these funds to accelerate product development as the company prepares for the 2010 launch of its SolarBridge Microinverter.
Photovoltaics and semiconductor materials provider Voltaix has received $10 million in equity financing from private investment firm MissionPoint Capital Partners. The company also announced the appointment of Mark Schwartz, cofounder and chairman of MissionPoint (and former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asia), to its board.
The Intel Corp spin-off, SpectraWatt has raised a further US$41.4 million from investors that include Intel Capital and Goldman Sachs. The start-up plans to start shipping solar cells in 2Q10. The company said that some of the new funds will help finalize completion of the company's factory, advance internal operations and technology development as well as allow for planned capacity expansions.
