LDK Solar has said that it started polysilicon production at its first 1,000MT plant on January 14th, 2009, 11 months after starting construction at its production complex in Xinyu City, China. A ceremony was held with the Governor of Jiangxi, Mr. Wu Xinxiong attending as well as the entire construction workforce.
In a deal said to be worth more than $150 million, Perfectenergy International Ltd. has signed a one-year module sales agreement with Abidas AG. Perfectenergy will supply 50MW of monocrystalline solar modules to the German company over the four quarters of 2009, at a price that has been fixed until June 2009. The modules will be manufactured at Perfectenergy's 60MW factory in Shanghai, China.
An industry analyst specializing in the renewable energy and semiconductor materials sectors, Ming Yang’s addition to the JA Solar team will see him take up the post of vice president of business development and corporate communications. He will oversee investor and public relations, business development, strategic marketing and market assessment for the company.
Berlin-based pvXchange, the photovoltaic spot market trading company, has provided positive reports of its sales for 2008 and as a result has decided to open a public limited company. pvXchange international N.V., with offices in Maastricht, Netherlands, will be involved with all business dealings of the company, leaving the parent company (pvXchange GmbH) to continue operation of the international solar trading platform.
Applied Materials, Inc. has been awarded certification by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) for its single and tandem junction PV modules. Standards 61646 and 61730 involve safety testing of PV modules under severe environmental conditions, and the stamp of approval for the products from the IEC will aid in shortening time-to-market for the modules as well as speeding up the certification process for Applied’s customers.
The Abu Dhabi-based Masdar initiative has announced its plans to construct a 10MW solar power plant in the Middle East area, which will be the first and largest grid-connected solar photovoltaic plant in the Middle East and North Africa region. The plant will consist of 50% crystalline modules and 50% thin-film modules, which, it was announced today, are to be supplied by First Solar. Construction on the Dh185 million (~$50M) project is underway and is scheduled for completion by the end of the second quarter of 2009. The PV plant will power the construction activities in Masdar City and the Masdar Institute...
Intersolar, the solar technology trade show, will again be held in the New Munich Trade Fair Center, a little earlier this year on May 27th. One major change this year is the size of the exhibition space, which has already been pushed up from 76,000m2 to surpass 100,000m2, taking up nine halls of the Center. The volume of exhibitors in 2008 was an increase of 120% on the previous year, aided by the move to the Munich venue.
Joining SVTC Technologies as CEO, Joseph R. Bronson, an industry veteran with over twenty years’ experience, replaces Dave Bergeron at the helm of the R&D facility. Mr. Bergeron will remain with the company in the role of CTO, focussing his efforts on the company’s technical products and services. Mr. Bronson brings experience from companies such as Applied Materials and FormFactor.
Roth & Rau AG and Innovalight have together completed the world’s first silicon-ink based solar cell production line, installed at Innovalight’s Sunnyvale, California facility. The line has reached operational capability and its initial capacity of 10MW can be scaled to several hundred megawatts, according to the companies.
As of March 10th, 2009, Applied Materials’ Chairman of over 20 years will step down from the chair and will be replaced by company CEO Mike Splinter. James C. Morgan (pictured), an Applied Materials employee since 1976 and holder of the role of CEO from 1977 to 2003, will assume the role of Chairman Emeritus and will not run for re-election as company chairman, as he has reached the customary Board retirement age of 70.
