Last year saw the gases division of The Linde Group capitalise on the solar industry’s growth by securing supply contracts with over 25 new and pre-existing customers in the thin-film and crystalline silicon manufacturing sectors.
Manz Automation will break ground later this week on a new production, technology, and training facility in Suzhou, China. The factory will manufacture equipment for the photovoltaics, FPD, and PCB industries, with 50% devoted to solar tools, said company executives during a press conference held in conjunction with the SNEC trade show in Shanghai. The building will be finished by the end of this year, with production machinery installed early next year and the initial production ramp planned for February 2012.
CIGS thin-film photovoltaics manufacturer SoloPower has received a conditional commitment for a $197 million loan guarantee from the US. Department of Energy Loan Programs office. The company said the funds will support construction of a flexible thin-film module manufacturing facility in Wilsonville, OR, that, when completed and at full capacity, is expected to have an annual capacity of approximately 400MW.
Rumours of a tie-up with Samsung have proved true, with the news that MEMC will establish a new joint-venture firm with Samsung Fine Chemicals to produce polysilicon for the PV industry. The agreement between SFC and MEMC's affiliate, MEMC Singapore, includes building a 10,000MT plant in Ulsan, Korea, close to an SFC chemical plant. Production ramp is targeted for 2013.
Showa Shell Sekiyu subsidiary Solar Frontier has begun the commercial ramp of its new advanced, fully-automated CIS (copper, indium and selenium) thin-film solar module production plant, located in Miyazaki, Japan. Initial production capacity is claimed to be 600MW and is planned to reach a nameplate capacity of 1GW in 2012.
Germany’s PV manufacturing solutions provider Schiller Automation has created a U.S.-based subsidiary, Schiller LLC, to help it service its expanding portfolio of international clients.
Flextronics and eSolar have signed a deal that calls for the electronic manufacturing services company to provide electromechanical design capabilities to the concentrating solar thermal power plant developer. Flextronics will focus its design services efforts relating to eSolar's next-generation heliostats and solar collector systems at its Plano, TX, location.
After examining its results for the past fiscal year, Schott Solar has decided to augment its global PV module production capacity to reach 800MW during 2011. To help facilitate its wafer capacity expansion, Schott has formed a joint venture with China-based Hareon Solar Technology. The first phase of the JV will add 300MW of Schott’s module manufacturing capacity to its existing 500MW capacity in place at its New Mexico and Czech Republic facilities.
Steed Technology recently completed the full acquisition of outstanding stock for Applied Technology Specialists (ATSI). Steed has confirmed that manufacturing of all products will remain in Northern California, while research and development will continue in Oklahoma. Both companies will now operate under the Steed name.
Princeton Power Systems (PPS) has opened its new Princeton, New Jersey facility, which will manufacture inverters and energy storage systems for the alternative energy divisions. In addition to housing PPS’s military-qualified variable speed drive product, the 10,000 square foot facility contains floors that are qualified for assembling 90” inverter cabinets. The new facility boasts various labs, including an inverter test lab, a printed circuit board lab and a variable speed drive test and assembly lab.
