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.
First Solar recently held its inaugural annual Supplier Recognition Day, which was said to have been attended by approximately 60 companies that were considered critical suppliers to the company. At the event, encapsulant supplier, STR Holdings, was recognised as one of three suppliers, with the NOVA award, designed to recognise premier suppliers that significantly support its mission.
Weak pricing, especially on the spot market, has forced REC to reduce monocrystalline wafer production at its Glomfjord, Norway facility by 50%. The announcement comes soon after reducing multicrystalline wafer production at its facility in Herøya, Norway by 60% in late November, 2011. REC said that the temporary shutdown would affect approximately 65 employees at its Glomfjord facility.
Japan-based Tanaka Precious Metals has taken-out licenses from the National Central University, Taiwan to manufacture and supply ruthenium-based dye compounds for next generation dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). The ruthenium complex dye was developed by Professor Chun-Guey Wu and post-doctoral researcher, Chia-Yuan Chen, with reported conversion efficiencies of 11.4%, reported in the scientific journal, ACS nano in 2009, operating in the visible light wavelength range of approximately 400 to 750 nanometers.
