Dow Chemical announced that it had officially opened its Dow Seoul Technology Centre in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi-do. The R&D centre will focus on technological advances in display technologies and semiconductor-related applications including lithography, organic light-emitting diodes (OLED), display materials and advanced chip packaging.
The recently formed joint venture between Camco International and Rex Investment Ltd. (RIL) has been awarded a tender to distribute and install solar power systems in rural Tanzania.
Renewable Energy Corporation said that operating its 300MW monocrystalline wafer plant in Glomfjord, Norway would continue to lose money despite cost reduction efforts and that it will therefore be closed permanently. The plant closure will affect 200 employees.
Sainsbury’s has announced PV installations on the roofs of 115 of its supermarkets throughout the UK, totalling 7MW. The cylindrical PV modules were installed by British company Renewable Resources Energy Solutions.
China’s success will cause Germany’s solar manufacturing industry to vanish, predicts a member of EON’s managing board. Klaus-Dieter Maubach stated the industry will become non-existent in five years time.
The difficult solar market in the last quarter of 2011, led Elkem Solar to suspend operations at its plant in Kristiansand, Norway. However, the company has advised that full production has been restored due to an increase in orders for Elkem Solar Silicon.
Aide Solar has multiplied its module portfolio with the release of its Quasi-mono module line, which is comprised of 21 additional modules. The new line is available in 60 and 72 cell designs, with power ratings from 230 to 320W. The company noted that the new modules, which it states have up to a 4% higher conversion efficiency at the module level than traditional polycrystalline, have completed UL certification and are available for release in the US market.
Solar IPP Sonnedix has announced the acquisition of a 5.4MW ground mounted facility in France from Element Power Solar. Fully operational since February 2011, the plant is located in St Martin Lalande, near Carcassonne and expected to generate in excess of 6,000MWh per annum.
Citing further pricing pressures in the fourth quarter of 2011, LDK Solar has revised down fourth quarter financial guidance and warned of further inventory write downs, expected to be from its polysilicon production operations. The company has already made several downward amendments to its expected quarterly results in 2011, resulting in excess of US$1 billion wiped-off expected revenue and over 1GW in expected wafer shipments alone.
As revealed in Hanwha SolarOne’s recent quarterly financial conference call, the PV module manufacturer is moving downstream to become a project developer and financier. As part of those business changes the company has formed a joint venture with project developer S.A.G. Solarstrom to initially build-out 20MWp of rooftop projects - mainly in Northern Italy - that are expected to be completed by the end of June 2012.
