SolarCity, the largest residential solar PV installer in the US said in its fourth quarter 2015 earnings call that its ambitious 1GW Buffalo Riverbend manufacturing facility had been impacted by longer than expected equipment lead times, pushing some equipment installs into the second-half of 2016.
New research undertaken by Solar Intelligence, part of PV Tech’s parent company Solar Media Ltd., can exclusively reveal the forecasted breakdown of production for the different technologies being used within the solar industry in 2016.
US-based polysilicon producer REC Silicon said in a trading update ahead of releasing fourth quarter results at the end of the week that it would shutdown its Silane IV production unit and remaining FBR production at its Moses Lake plant.
Taiwan-based solar wafer producer Green Energy Technology (GET) reported a significant leap in sales for the month of January on the back of higher prices due to industry supply constraints.
PV module assembly equipment specialist Spire Corporation said it would focus on the turnkey PV manufacturing segment after completing the sale of its sun simulator business to Eternal Sun.
Major polysilicon producer Wacker Chemie said that its new polysilicon plant in the US had started ramping and existing plants remained at full-capacity despite continued price declines that have reached record lows.
Asia-based polysilicon producer Tokuyama Corp said it would take a one-time impairment charge of ¥123.4 billion (US$1.02 billion) on its two polysilicon plants in Malaysia as ASPs were lower than expected and not inline with previous business guidance.
In addition to launching a residential energy management and PV self-consumption package for the home compatible with Tesla’s Powerwall, power optimiser specialist SolarEdge launched a lightweight inverter late last year utilising the Israel-headquartered firm’s new HD Wave technology.
China-based PV manufacturer and PV project developer Hareon Solar Technology is raising around US$300 million in a private placement of new shares to expand PV manufacturing capacity and enter the LED market through an acquisition.
