Thin-film solar PV manufacturer Odersun has appointed former NXP Semiconductors exec Hein van der Zeeuw as its new CEO. Van der Zeeuw has 26 years of experience in the electronic components and semiconductor industry and is a former member of the board of management of Philips spin-out NXP, which he resigned from in July, 2008 after serving as executive VP of operations.
The Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) has reaffirmed its commitment to energy efficiency and renewable energy through the adoption of its 2009 operating budget. The budget provides incentives of up to US$14.4 million through ...
Loss-making EMCORE Corporation said in an SEC filing that it is planning a sweeping range of cost-cutting measures and refinancing moves to improve the company’s financial liquidity. A workforce reduction will be made to lower operating costs, though how deep the cuts will be was not disclosed.
Day4 Energy, Inc. has announced the planned cut of approximately 95 people from its workforce in an attempt to improve the company’s cost structure. The Canadian solar module manufacturer said that the cuts would affect the company’s Burnaby, BC production facility, and would incur restructuring costs of approximately $0.7 million. The affected employees would be offered severance and human resource support, according to the company.
Following the company’s recent receipt of IEC certification for its solar modules by VDE Laboratories, Solar Power, Inc. has completed a sale to a prominent German solar integrator. The first supply of 200W solar panels associated with this deal took place in early December 2008, and the panels are expected to be used in the unnamed integrator’s Germany-based installation projects.
Amtech Systems, Inc. has revealed that its subsidiary, Tempress Systems, Inc. has received two new orders for its diffusion processing system, worth a total of $5 million. The orders consist of one in Asia, for multiple systems, and another from a solar research and development institute in Europe.
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.
