Solaria has officially unveiled its new manufacturing plant and solar array at the company headquarters in Fremont, California. The opening ceremony was attended by Lieutenant Governor of California Gavin Newsom, EPA Regional Administrator Jared Blumenfeld and several other state dignitaries.
Fraunhofer ISE is reveling in the afterglow of the first SiliconPV-International Conference on Silicon Photovoltaics. The even took place April 17 through 20th in Freiburg, Germany and brought 540 scientists from 21 countries together to discuss and focus on silicon technology. The theme for the three-day long event was “Advanced Cell and Module Concepts” and included over 130 presentations that were designed to promote communication between all the participants.
Another day, another cell efficiency record as selective emitter technology from Schmid has been used to support a claimed new cell efficiency record by customer, Sunrise Global Solar of 19.2%. The cells were verified by the University of Konstanz and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems.
Despatch Industries patent-pending VOC Thermal Oxidizers have already been making an impact at the company. Despatch reports that in the past six months it has collected orders to upgrade over 1.2GW of its installed base of CF series firing and drying services with its VOC technology.
Solar cell manufacturers are undertaking aggressive expansion plans at present in an attempt to meet ambitious 2011 shipment forecasts, according to Solarbuzz’s latest quarterly report. This ramping up of production has the potential to create US$15.2 billion in revenue for manufacturing firms – a year-on-year rise of 41%.
Continuing its PV equipment company consolidation attempts, Meyer Burger will acquire Roth & Rau in a friendly takeover. Meyer Burger said it had already acquired a total of 11.3% of the share capital of Roth & Rau AG from the founders and key shareholders. Meyer Burger is offering bearer shares in Roth & Rau at €22 per share in cash, a premium of around 41% compared with the volume-weighted average share price of the past three months. The total deal is worth approximately €356.6 million.
Despatch Industries has successfully completed the latest set of enhancements and testing for its CF Series firing furnace. Improvements to the maximum belt speed have increased up to 300 inches per minute while thermal transfer methods, notably in the cooling sector, have allowed the firing furnace to reach higher maximum ramp rates. Despatch notes that enrichments to its CF Series allow it to reach a maximum ramp rate up to 200°C for heating and cooling.
An annual survey of cell manufacturers published in the March 2011 issue of Photon International highlights a significant increase in solar cell production that could result in new capacity growing by 80% in 2011 and roughly reach a global capacity of 67GW. This comes on the back of reported cell production figures reaching 27.2GW in 2010, up 118%, compared with 12.5GW produced in 2009.
Although there were no specifics mentioned in the financial forecast for 2011 provided by Q-Cells as it announced full year financial results, sales are set to be at around the same level as last year. As previously reported, Q-Cells sales increased by 70% to €1.35 billion in 2010. In its annual report, 2011 sales guidance is between €1.3 billion and €1.5 billion.
In releasing 2010 financial results this week, centrotherm photovoltaics achieved record results, dominated by revenue generation in its Solar Cell & Module segment, while revenue from its Silicon & Wafer segment and Thin Film Module segment declined compared to 2009. Group revenue reached €624.2 million, a 22.6% increase over revenue of €509.1 million in 2009. Solar Cell & Module segment revenue reached €404.5 million, up 68.6% compared to the previous year and represented 64.8% share of total revenue.
