Suntech and Calisolar have signed a letter of intent to construct a solar silicon manufacturing facility in Ontario, Canada, in order to significantly expand the existing manufacturing operations in Vaughan. The plant will add new operators and engineers, doubling total employment at Calisolar's wholly owned subsidiary, 6N Silicon, to more than 350.
Iosil Energy has leased a 30,700 square foot facility from Meritex in Groveport, Ohio, as the location for its pilot manufacturing of high purity polysilicon.
Update: A significant increase in production capacity of its leading-edge ‘Panda’ technology will help boost Yingli Green’s total PV production capacity pass 1.7GW by mid-2011. Yingli Green is adding 600MW of new capacity in each key area of monocrystalline silicon manufacturing, which includes ingots, wafers, cells and modules at its Baoding, China headquarters. A further 100MW will be added to multicrystalline silicon production, in Haikou, Hainan Province, China. Yingli’s
Mitsubishi Electric has said that it has completed construction of PV Cell Plant #2, a 50MW solar cell production facility at its Nakatsugawa Works Iida Factory in Nagano Prefecture. When ramped in 2011, the new plant will give Mitsubishi an annual capacity of 270MW. The company noted that the new facility will also produce monocrystalline-silicon cells and start production by March 2011.
Roth & Rau AG has acquired Ortner cleanroom logistic systems GmbH for an undisclosed sum in an effort to meet increasing demand from customers to support crystalline and thin-film equipment servicing, spare parts and other support activities. Ortner, based in Dresden, is a specialist in tool installations and automation company. Ortner’s existing management and skilled workforce will continue to operate the business as a subsidiary of Roth & Rau.
