In future weeks, SunPower will almost certainly be marking April 12 as not only an eventful day, but a successful one as well. Not only did the company celebrate the opening of its Milpitas module manufacturing plant, but also announced that the US Department of Energy (DOE) has offered the company a conditional loan guarantee for its California Valley Solar Ranch power plant.
Tigo Energy has secured investment of up to US$20 million to help expand its manufacturing, international sales and logistics divisions and meet rising demand for its Maximizer Management Unit.
Continuing its PV equipment company consolidation attempts, Meyer Burger will acquire Roth & Rau in a friendly takeover. Meyer Burger said it had already acquired a total of 11.3% of the share capital of Roth & Rau AG from the founders and key shareholders. Meyer Burger is offering bearer shares in Roth & Rau at €22 per share in cash, a premium of around 41% compared with the volume-weighted average share price of the past three months. The total deal is worth approximately €356.6 million.
French utility EDF will acquire the outstanding 50% share in EDF Energies Nouvelles after the renewable energy firm accepted an offer of €40 per outstanding share. This represents a premium of 10.4% on the share closing price on April 7 and a 23.8% premium compared to the daily volume-weighted average over the last six months.
Global research firm Cleantech has revealed that global investment in green technology for Q1 2011 totalled US$2.57 billion, with the solar sector accounting for US$641 million. Investment came from 159 companies in North America, Europe, China and India, and was up 13% on the figure of US$2.28 billion from the same period last year.
Schott North America has appointed Linda Mayer as its new president and CEO. Mayer became the first woman to head up Schott’s North American subsidiary when she started the role on April 1 and succeeds Gerald Fine, who became a company director and joined its North American advisory board in January.
Despite the latest report by the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) advising that the feed-in tariff rates in Australia’s Capital Territory (ACT) need to be reduced, the Territory’s Minister for Energy, Simon Corbell, said the rates would remain unchanged.
Spain’s Ministry for Industry has approved 923 new solar projects for Q1 2011, all of which will benefit from the current feed-in tariff rates. The 116MW of new installations have been endorsed just in time to avoid the government’s subsidy reductions that come into play from Q2.
Alstom will invest a further US$75 million in BrightSource Energy, adding to its original commitment of US$55 million in May 2010. The companies signed a partnership agreement in August 2010 to provide fully integrated solar thermal power plants around the world.
Capital Dynamics and Tangent Energy Solutions have signed a joint development agreement, which will see the two companies working together on commercial-scale solar energy projects throughout the United States. Under the agreement, Capital Dynamics will arrange the funding necessary to build, own and operate existing and future solar projects developed by Tangent.
