Citing some customer cutbacks in solar module manufacturing production levels and continued pressure on wafer prices that have declined more than 50% since April this year, PV Crystalox Solar is taking drastic measures to reduce cash burn in difficult times for the global PV industry. The company guided a significant reduction in wafer shipments, compared to previous forecasts, job losses and short time working.
The Solar Gateway Project – a combined effort from full-service construction company Gilbane Co. and solar panel manufacturer SunPower Corp. – is underway to build a 1.1MW solar power system at California-based West Valley College campus. With SunPower's high-efficiency solar panels, the system will generate approximately one-third of West Valley College's electricity demand and save more than US$9 million.
It was recently revealed that Solyndra’s surplus assets will be auctioned off through a global webcast and in person auction by Heritage Global Partners beginning Wednesday, November 2 through Thursday November 3.
Oregon-based SolarWorld announced that along with seven other US manufacturers, it had petitioned the US federal government to stop what it calls, “an ever-increasing tide of heavily subsidized solar cells and panels that China’s state-supported solar industry is illegally dumping into the American market.” Spearheaded under the name, The Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing, the group filed complaints with both the US Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission.
At the Solar Power International Expo this October 2011, technology pioneer OutBack Power Technologies will demonstrate their off-grid power conversion components. And Ameresco Solar, a leading energy efficiency and renewable energy company has reached an agreement to provide BP Solar International’s small area module (SAM) line of solar panels that range from 5 watts to 180 watts under the Ameresco Solar brand.
S-Energy, a Korea-based module manufacturer, increased its module capacity by 120MW to a total of 350MW in October 2011. The company claims this is the most modern solar module manufacturing line in Korea with stringers from Germany (Teamtechnik), laminators from Switzerland (3S) and automation made in Korea (Evertechno).
AEG Power Solutions has inaugurated its new 400MW PV manufacturing factory in Bangalore, India. Initially, the 80,000-square-foot site, which employs 150 people, will produce AEG’s PV250 and PV500 series inverters, although plans are already underway to ramp up capacity to include uninterruptible power supplies.
Five awards were given to recognize the partners REC during the Global Partner Summit in Italy.
Luc Graré, Senior VP of sales and marketing cells and modules at REC Solar, said, “We are very excited to recognize the strong commitment of our partners who have made a significant contribution to our sales and marketing activities over the last year".
Camp Perry Ohio National Guard Base in Port Clinton, Ohio is home to 2,750 of Nanosolar’s utility panels, which are helping to power the recently completed 538kW solar installation. Ramanoff Electric managed the engineering, procurement and construction of the project.
Task force leader, Christian Prischmann, from UIbrich, a specialist metals provider to the PV industry, was the recipient of the Standards Leadership award. The European Semi award went to Dr. Tibor Pavelka, CEO of Semilab Co. Ltd. who is a producer of metrology equipment for the characterization of semiconductor and PV materials.
