A major reshuffling of executive positions has been made at Hanwha SolarOne, which said the move was designed to strengthen the management team as it continued to build-out the company to become a major player within the solar industry. Stepping aside is Dr. Peter Xie, CEO and Gareth Kung, CFO, both former Solarfun executives, who are being replaced by Hanwha Group executives, Ki-Joon Hong and Jung Pyo Seo, respectively. Hong is currently the chairman of the Board of SolarOne and CEO of Hanwha Chemical Corporation, which acquired a majority stake in the former Solarfun.
Reporting to REC’s EVP, John Andersen, former LG Electronics manager, Luc Graré has been appointed the firms new senior vice president, sales and marketing, cells & modules. Graré will be tasked with strengthening REC’s sales and marketing activities, and will join REC on July 1st.
Alex Vanderpol has been appointed as Astronergy’s general counsel, a role in which he will oversee all the legal operations for the company. Vanderpol has practiced corporate and commercial law and worked for various organizations based in Asia including the Singapore and Shanghai branches of AMB AMRO Bank and Solarfun Power Holdings, Hanwha Solar One, in Shanghai.
Transphorm has completed the latest round of financing for the development of its Galiium Nitride GaN power conversion module. Quantum Strategic Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Google Ventures, Foundation Capital and Lux Capital were the investors behind the US$25 million Series D financing round, which takes the total capital raised to US$63 million.
SunSi Energies advised that it has continued moving forward with plans to raise capital in order to fund future company expansions and acquisitions. The past three months have seen the company gather around US$5 million through cash received from equity sales of US$635,000, common stock subscription commitments of US$1,750,000 and the conversion of US$2.7 million in redeemable stock to common equity by its 40% equity partner, Wendeng facility.
CleanPath has revealed that its plans to invest US$800 million towards the development of 1,000MW of large-scale solar PV projects in North America over the next five years. The company will manage two revolving facilities in its investment by targeting large-scale solar projects that range in size from 5MW to over 100MW.
Borrego Solar Systems has closed its latest investment fund to help finance and install a number of new PV projects across the US. East West Bank and US Bank are partnering Borrego on the fund, which will take the company’s solar PPA portfolio past the US$100 million mark.
Siemens has acquired a minority stake in US company Semprius for an undisclosed sum. The purchase of the approximately 16% share will see Siemens assist Semprius’s HCPV technology development and provide Siemens with an insight into a new CO2-free power generation technology that is nearing market maturity.
Echoing other PV manufacturers comments over weak demand for solar products in key markets such as Germany and Italy in the first-half of the year, Conergy announced after the German stock market had closed that it was retracting its 2011 fiscal year guidance of sales topping €1 billion. Conergy did not provide new guidance for 2011.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has offered a conditional loan guarantee totalling US$1.2 billion to help build a 280MW Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plant in southern California. If confirmed, the DOE guarantee will help fund the construction and start-up of Abengoa’s Mojave Solar Project (MSP), which is to be located around 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles in San Bernardino County.
