DayStar Technologies and Ontario, Canada’s, Grasshopper Energy entered into an LOI agreement in which DayStar will buy Grasshopper Energy in, an expected, 30 days. The purchase will be a 100% equity transaction. Grasshopper Energy is known for its turnkey solutions and is said to have one of the largest presences in Ontario. The company has over 100 microFiT contracts awarded to date worth CAN$50 million and additional microFiT and FiT applications exceeding 3,500 projects, which make a potential pipeline worth over CAN$100 million.
SMA Solar Technology issues a rather dire outlook for 2013, noting that because of the large subsidy cuts for PV, and the expected European downturn because of the cuts, the company’s managing board anticipates sales to drop to somewhere between €0.9 billion and €1.3 billion in 2013.
The government of Tamil Nadu, India, has committed to generate 3,000MW of solar power by 2015 (1,000MW per year) through its newly launched Solar Energy Policy 2012, according to reports.
SunPower has announced plans to restructure its Fab 2 cell manufacturing plant in the Philippines. The company’s Fab 1 facility was shuttered in April this year with some equipment transferred from there to Fab 2, to reduce manufacturing constraints during the second quarter.
Major PV equipment supplier, centrotherm photovoltaics has submitted its reorganization plans to the insolvency court in Ulm, Germany. Although the company did not provide details on what those plans would be, the company said in a statement that it had now entered a critical phase in its insolvency proceedings that also need creditor approval. Both its subsidiaries, centrotherm thermal solutions and centrotherm SiTec have also filed plans with the court separately.
Ahead of the official release from the four leading German high voltage network operators (TSOs) next week, Reuters has released information that the push towards green power could cause the country’s renewable energy surcharge to rocket by almost 47% by next year. The article states that this is a reflection of the increasing amount of electricity from renewable sources, bought from producers at guaranteed prices above market rates.
The long and winding road to this final determination imposing anti-dumping and countervailing duties against Chinese manufacturers has finally been reached. The US Department of Commerce (DoC) has announced that Chinese producers/exporters have sold solar cells in the United States at dumping margins ranging from 18.32% to 249.96%. The DoC also determined that Chinese producers/exporters have received countervailable subsidies of 14.78% to 15.97%. This is approximately the same as the ruling in May and in some cases 10% lower.
Having sold its 1MW Uterne PV plant last week, SunPower has announced it has invested in Diamond Energy, a privately-owned, alternative energy project developer and clean electricity retailer headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. SunPower has acquired a minority stake of approximately 42% in Diamond Energy and under terms of the agreement has an option to increase its ownership percentage over time. SunPower will also assume a seat on the company's board of directors.
