The UK solar industry has finally received some good news this week, with the opening of a solar panel manufacturing facility in Jarrow, South Tyneside, creating more than 20 jobs.
India-based, thin-film PV manufacturer Moser Baer has installed a 5MW solar farm, equivalent to powering 70,000 households, covering an area of 60 acres in Tinwari, Jodhpur district, India. This is part of the US$1 billion the company has promised the Indian states of Gujarat, Orissa, West Bengal and Rajasthan, for projects worth 300MW. The farm was built under the solar subsidy scheme, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). The opening ceremony was attended by the renewable energy minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah and Ashok Gehlot, chief minister of Rajasthan.
The tragic death of Amonix CEO Brian Robertson late last year has led to Jan van Dokkum, an executive with venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, becoming interim CEO of the concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) solar systems company. The Board of Directors at Amonix said it had enlisted an executive search firm and has established a search committee for the selection and appointment of a new CEO.
As the Middle-East becomes an emerging solar market, more companies are set to seek business opportunities in the region. PV wholesaler and project developer, Antaris Solar is latest to announce it has opened trading posts in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. Antaris Solar already operates in Italy, France, the United Kingdom and the USA.
Construction has begun of the initial stage of the 2MW CPV solar plant in Mildura, Victoria. The 2MW plant will serve as a form of demonstration facility for what the developers are planning could eventually be a 100MW solar farm by 2016. As equipment supplier to the facility, Solar Systems will provide its "Dense Array" CPV technology which is said to use triple-junction solar cells to yield a 40% conversion efficiency.
Thin-film solar cells manufacturer AQT Solar has received US$18.7 million from investors to double production at its headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, US. Details of the investors have not been disclosed.
First Solar will use the Waste Management Phoenix Open, as part of the PGA Tour, in Scotsdale, Arizona, US, to showcase its solar PV arrays to power the event, including the waste management hospitality tent at the 18th hole. The company will have exclusive rights to the event as the only solar energy provider.
CVD Equipment advised that its new orders in 2011 totaled over US$36 million, 44% more than the US$25 million received in 2010. New orders in the CVD/FN division of production and research systems was approximately US$30.5 million, an increase, according to CVD, of 45% compared to 2010 order levels. CVD expects high demand to continue in 2012.
According to IMS Research, tier 2 PV module manufacturers in China have seen average utilization rates fall as low as 35% in the fourth quarter of 2011 as a result of overcapacity, high inventory levels and weaker than expected demand in 2012. The market research firm noted that many tier 2 suppliers have reduced production significantly or suspended production entirely, resulting in the lowest-ever recorded utilization rates so far reported.
Taiwan-based crystalline solar cell producer, Neo Solar Power (NSP) has reported December, 2011 revenue of approximately US$21.94 million (NT $663 million), down significantly from the previous quarter and year-on-year. Total revenue for 2011 reached approximately US$600.2 million, down from US$634.4 million in 2010.
