Saint-Gobain has begun construction on its first manufacturing plant in North America. Located in Goodyear, Arizona, the facility will house the company’s mirror line for solar thermal power stations and supply the domestic US market. The plant, with an estimated production capacity that corresponds to an annual thermal output of 300MW, is anticipated to be online by the 2011 fourth quarter.
Several days of angry demonstrations by local residents after a fluoride leak from a JinkoSolar-owned cell manufacturing plant have led to the plant closing. According to reports, the plant had been warned of environmental noncompliance earlier this year, but after residents broke through gates, overturning cars and ransacking offices, local government officials have ordered the closure of the plant in Hongxiao, China.
As Governor Osuna of Baja California toured CPV company Arima Operations in Taipei, Arima and Baja Sun Energy advised of their plan to form Mexico’s first integrated solar business. The new company will build a CPV solar system manufacturing plant and use the panels manufactured by the plant to install a utility-sized solar generation facility at the Silicon Border CleanTECH Park in Mexicali, Mexico.
SpectraWatt willo auction off its 140,000 square-foot crystalline silicon cell manufacturing and research facility in Hudson Valley at the end of the month. In August the cell manufacturer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the bulk and piecemeal auction, to be carried out by Heritage Global Partners, Counsel RB Capital and Silicon Valley Disposition, marks the first stage of financial restructuring.
Two weeks after Conergy was busy putting out fires surrounding the rumors that it was planning to close its manufacturing plant in Frankfurt, the company has advised that it will be halting production of its wafer and cell manufacturing lines at the German facility. The company advised that its PV module production at the Oder plant would continue, but that the over-capacity, price pressures and the inability to cover the costs of wafer and cell manufacturing had forced it to discontinue the productions for the time being.
Calisolar is making its move to become high-volume low-cost silicon solar wafer producer with plans to build a 16,000MT silicon production facility in Lowndes County, Mississippi at an estimated cost of US$600 million. A pioneer of enhanced UMG-based wafers, Calisolar is bring silicon material production in-house to significantly lower costs and have greater control over material quality. When fully operational, the plant is said to employ 951 full-time workers.
Ubbink East Africa, Centrotec Sustainable's Dutch subsidiary, has opened East Africa's first PV module factory in Naivasha, Kenya. Ubbink plans to produce around 30,000 modules a year, with the majority of these being used to cater for the growing number of small-scale systems in Africa.
Silex Systems’ subsidiary, Silex Solar, revealed plans to restructure its silicon PV panel business located at Sydney Olympic Park, a facility it bought a few years ago from BP Solar. Changes will revolve around management and operations, which the company hopes will strengthen its position in the business.
As part of its strategy to supply a complete materials offering to the PV industry, Dow Corning has brought online a new 4,000MT per annum monosilane gas facility, adjacent to Hemlock Semiconductor’s polysilicon manufacturing plant in Hemlock, Michigan.
