MEMC has extended its chief financial officer position to Mark Murphy, who will take over for current CFO Tim Oliver. Oliver will remain with MEMC through the end of 2011’s first quarter in a non-executive role, but plans to leave the company for the pursuit of other interests. In addition to his role as CFO at MEMC, Murphy will also take on the role of senior vice president. The transition will be effective on January 10, 2011.
The board of directors for China Technology Development Group (CTDC) have newly appointed Liao Lin-Hsiang as the chief operating officer and Bruno Diaz Herrera as chief technology officer effective December 13, 2010. Liao will take over for Lu Zhenwei who resigned from his COO position, but has continued on as executive director for CTDC.
A new report by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research entitled, U.S. Solar Energy Trade Assessment 2010, found that the U.S. not only has a strong solar industry, but is a leader in the net exportation of solar energy products. In 2009, US$723 million worth of net exports came from the U.S. alone.
Manfred Bächler has resigned from his position as Phoenix Solar's chief technology officer. Bächler will also be stepping down from the Phoenix Solar executive board, citing personal reasons for his decision.
The Czech Senate has approved a new law, which will add a 26% tax on solar energy production over the next three years, as well as 32% tax on carbon credits awarded to solar companies in the next two years. The new taxes will apply to all photovoltaic plants that were guaranteed to receive a fixed feed-in tariff (FiT) for a period of 20 years.
The 37th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC) will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2011 and has opened its call for papers to be presented at the June 19th through June 24th conference in Seattle, Washington. Authors who wish to submit their papers should provide a technical abstract by the February 21, 2011 deadline. Details on the abstract submission process can be found here.
IDC Energy Insights has launched three new global-research projects focused on quantifying and tracking the rapidly-growing Smart Meter, Photovoltaic Module, and Solar Inverter markets. To help man the new programmes, five analysts will be joining IDC's Worldwide Tracker team, which will be managed by Ryan Reith.
Australia's Minister for Climate Change, Greg Combet has revealed that the country's subsidies for households that install solar panels will end a year earlier than planned. The Solar Credits Scheme, originally implemented in 2008, which gives households up to five times more renewable energy credits for the electricity generated by their solar systems, will now end in mid-2014, with the credit 'multiplier' reduced every year until that date.
