A personal perspective on why a solar company could take on its rivals and thrive in a year full of disruptions to the industry but report record results and revenue growth that is unlikely to be topped by any other PV manufacturer in 2018.
Leading PV manufacturing equipment supplier Meyer Burger has sold its photovoltaic, semiconductor and sapphire wafering business to Precision Surfacing Solutions for CHF 50 million (US$49.8 million) in cash.
PV project developer Sky Solar Holdings has terminated the employment of its chief financial officer (CFO), Sanjay Shrestha with immediate effect, without further details.
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member Canadian Solar has rejected the proposal by its founder, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Shawn Qu to take the company private and delist from NASDAQ.
The distributed renewable energy (DRE) sector, necessary in a world with millions of people without power, is being held back by a chronic shortage of skilled workers. Indeed, Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa) has just 16,000 people working in renewable energy in a region with 600 million un-electrified people, according to the founders of a new campaign aiming to fill this skills gap.
US-headquartered high-efficiency PV module producer SunPower Corp is expecting to sell further assets and increase its loans in 2019 to avert bankruptcy due to looming liquidity issues as the company expects to remain loss making next year, while current net losses in the first nine months of 2018 have reached US$745.3 million.
Leading PV manufacturing equipment supplier Meyer Burger has announced a new restructuring program, which is intended to bring its breakeven level to around CHF 250 million per annum.
The long-standing CEO of major PV inverter manufacturer SMA Solar Technology, Pierre-Pascal Urbon has suddenly stepped down from his executive role and plans to leave the company altogether at the end of December, 2018.