Manufacturing

UPDATED: PV industry market leader First Solar reported third-quarter sales of US$797.9 million, a significant increase of second quarterly net sales of US$587.9 million, mainly due to the sale of the 60MW Sarnia Phase 2 utility project in Canada. The company noted that its CdTe thin-film module average selling prices (ASP) declined in the quarter, which impacted revenue figures.

SMA Solar Technology has founded a new sales and service subsidiary in Mumbai, India which is aims to open by the end of this year. SMA is currently the only inverter manufacturer offering modern system technology for grid-tied solar power plants in India.

Teamtechnik has inaugurated its new 1,500m2 production facility in Jintan, China. The new location is expected to increase the amount of local contacts for customers in China and to ensure short delivery times as well as efficient response from the service teams.

Ascent Solar has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with 'The Energy and Resource Institute' (TERI), based in New Delhi, India. Under the terms of the agreement, TERI will perform testing and performance evaluation of Ascent's flexible thin-film CIGS modules as well as looking at the feasibility of including these modules for TERI's flagship program 'Lighting a Billion Lives' (LaBL).

Concentrator photovoltaics developer SolFocus will partner with Vision Electro Mechanical to build the first commercial CPV power plant in Saudi Arabia. The initial project will be the initial project in a series of Saudi solar power stations planned by Vision (a subsidiary of Construction Projects Holding Co. [CPC]).

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.

5N Plus Corp was given US$500,000 in funding from the State Energy Program of Wisconsin, which will go towards purchasing equipment for the facilitation of the plants solar module recycling and creation of new jobs in DeForest, Wisconsin. The 60,500 square foot facility has a US$4 million investment behind it and is expected to be operational in the next few weeks. Along with its recycling capability, it will also be manufacturing specialty compounds for thin-film PV applications.

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.

Solarfun has joined JA Solar and Yingli Solar to become the third Chinese crystalline-silicon PV cell manufacturer to sign a licensing agreement with Innovalight for the Sunnyvale, CA-based company's proprietary performance-enhancing nanosilicon ink process.

In August, Oerlikon Solar and Hunan Gongchuang Photovoltaic Science & Technology signed a contract as part of the 60-year celebration for commercial ties between China and Switzerland. Today, as part of that contract, Gongchuang has ordered a 40MW micromorph turnkey production line, which is also known as the FAB 1200. The production line is expected to start mass production by the end of 2011, with around 330,000 solar modules being manufactured per year.