Ceradyne has completed its acquisition of VIOX, a specialty glass company based in Seattle, Washington. Over the past few years VIOX has seen around 70% of its sales come from solar glass products, which have been specifically formulated for polycrystalline silicon solar PV applications. Ceradyne bought VIOX with a US$27 million cash payment at closing, which also includes a post-closing adjustment in two months. Additionally, conditional payment of up to US$22 million may be paid if VIOX reaches certain sales diversification and earnings targets over a 30-month period after the closing.
LDK Solar, along with its polysilicon manufacturing subsidiary, has signed a definitive agreement with China Development Bank Capital Corporation, Excel Rise Holdings, Prosper East and an investment fund associated with another Chinese bank, where the investors will all subscribe to a collective US$240 million in series A redeemable convertible preferred shares of LDK Silicon & Chemical Technology. The wholly owned subsidiary of LDK Solar, contained in the Cayman Islands, will hold and operate LDK Solar’s polysilicon division once all PRC government approvals for foreign investments have been completed.
In SolarTech’s continued effort to hasten the implementation of renewable solar energy projects on state and local levels, the company has made the industry’s first engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contract template for solar financing, which is anticipated to go hand in hand with the power purchase agreement (PPA) that was released in 2009.
The European Commission has awarded Sovello AG €15.5 million of regional investment aid to help build its latest String Ribbon solar-module production facility in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Germany. When completed, the entire project will have received investment totalling €147 million and created 320 jobs in the region.
A new report by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research entitled, U.S. Solar Energy Trade Assessment 2010, found that the U.S. not only has a strong solar industry, but is a leader in the net exportation of solar energy products. In 2009, US$723 million worth of net exports came from the U.S. alone.
The 37th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC) will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2011 and has opened its call for papers to be presented at the June 19th through June 24th conference in Seattle, Washington. Authors who wish to submit their papers should provide a technical abstract by the February 21, 2011 deadline. Details on the abstract submission process can be found here.
IDC Energy Insights has launched three new global-research projects focused on quantifying and tracking the rapidly-growing Smart Meter, Photovoltaic Module, and Solar Inverter markets. To help man the new programmes, five analysts will be joining IDC's Worldwide Tracker team, which will be managed by Ryan Reith.
