Xcel Energy, a US electricity and natural gas company, has announced an end to its Solar Rewards scheme. Xcel Energy was seeking approximately 4.5MW of generation, from systems less than or equal to 500kW; it received approximately three times that amount in applications in about 30 minutes after the program opened at 8a.m. last week. Acceptance of applications ended after an hour.
Owning to July’s communiqué that Italy had reached its €6 billion limit, bringing into force the mooted Conto Energia V, Italian energy agency (GSE) has opened the first six-month register for PV systems over 12kW. The register will open at 9am August 20 and close at midnight on September 18 and capped at €140 million.
In response to increased losses and deepening negative margins, Trina Solar has implemented a number of changes to its management structure in a bid to “increase the responsiveness and effectiveness of its revenue-based operations”. As a result, its operations are now divided into four regions, each with a regional leader which will report to Jifan Gao, chairman and CEO of Trina Solar.
Daqo New Energy Corporation, a Chinese manufacturer of polysilicon, has received a notification from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) claiming that the company does not meet its price criteria.
With a debt of ¥1.25 trillion (US$16 billion), Japanese electronics manufacturer Sharp Corporation has been feeling the weight on its shoulders and will submit an asset report to its banks next month in order to identify any flagging businesses it could sell to raise some finance, Reuters revealed.
Daqo New Energy released its second quarter 2012 financial earnings, which saw the company post revenues of US$30.6 million, down from US$34 million in Q1 2012. Additionally, Daqo’s Q2 2012 polysilicon shipments were approximately 1,028MT, while its PV module shipments amounted to 3.6MW. Wafer shipments for the second quarter were 11.2MW.
Non-governmental organization (NGO), the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), is accusing US thin-film manufacturers of using a loop hole in the Indian government’s renewable energy scheme to “ruin the Indian domestic PV industry”. Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) initiative mandates a domestic content requirement, however, only for crystalline PV and not for thin-film.
PV module prices had enjoyed a short period of stability in June due to high demand in Germany and Italy, but begun to decline again in July. Over June, average prices fell by more than 2% and 44% down annually, according to the latest monthly module price report from IMS Research.
Management at Applied Materials spent little time discussing the performance of its Energy and Environmental Solutions (EES) division results, which houses the majority of its solar sector equipment and services to the PV industry. The company reported EES sales in its financial third quarter that were almost flat with the previous quarter at US$77 million. However, new orders decreased significantly to only US$35 million, compared to US$62 million in the prior quarter.
Aviva Investors recently completed its acquisition of nearly 7,000 solar PV systems from London-based free solar supplier HomeSun. The deal totals around 23MW and, according to the Financial Times, is said to be worth nearly £100 million.
