First Solar recently held its inaugural annual Supplier Recognition Day, which was said to have been attended by approximately 60 companies that were considered critical suppliers to the company. At the event, encapsulant supplier, STR Holdings, was recognised as one of three suppliers, with the NOVA award, designed to recognise premier suppliers that significantly support its mission.
Israel’s Public Utility Authority has awarded licences to build two solar thermal power plants with a combined capacity of 180MW. The larger of the plants has a capacity of 120MW and is being installed by Israel’s largest construction firm, Shikun & Binui. The contract for the smaller, 60MW station was handed out to a subsidiary of US investment company Two Sigma.
PDI Global will provide an electric energy storage system to a social housing project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. With the intention to supply at least 300,000 homes with solar power, a contract with Korea-based Leo Motors has been concluded. Leo Motors will supply 20,000 units of e-Box to the project.
Adani Group has commissioned a new large-scale PV project in the Kutch district of Gujarat. With a capacity of 40MW, it is India’s largest solar installation to date and Adani is planning to ramp it up to 100MW in the future.
According to a new report by Pike Research, “Remote Microgrids”, the worldwide market for remote microgrids over the next six years will expand from 349MW of generation capacity to over 1.1GW by 2017. The catalyst behind the increase will be the integration of solar PV, which Pike advised would help reduce diesel fuel consumption.
Lux Research’s latest Solar Demand Forecaster claims Portugal’s installations cap to be the most alluring in Europe to investors. The country’s internal rates of returns (IRR) for the six major solar technologies remain high in 2011 along with Cyprus and Greece, though the financial crisis in Europe could significantly hinder that market.
PV inverter supplier, Satcon Technology is realigning its business operations and significantly cutting operating expenses to reach breakeven mid-year. Europe and Canada business efforts are being scaled back, which includes the closure of its manufacturing facility in Ontario, Canada and an overall headcount reduction of 140 worldwide, or approximately 35%. Satcon will also stop production of its Solstice product line.
SAG Solarstrom has sold its 48MW Serenissima PV plant in Northern Italy to an unnamed institutional investor. The purchase contract, valued “in line with the market rate in the triple-digit million-euro range”, was signed on December 31, 2011 and is subject to the usual conditions precedent. Payment will be made to SAG Solarstrom sometime in Q1.
Weak pricing, especially on the spot market, has forced REC to reduce monocrystalline wafer production at its Glomfjord, Norway facility by 50%. The announcement comes soon after reducing multicrystalline wafer production at its facility in Herøya, Norway by 60% in late November, 2011. REC said that the temporary shutdown would affect approximately 65 employees at its Glomfjord facility.
Taiwan-based solar wafer producer, Green Energy Technology (GET) reported net sales for December 2011 of NT$880 million (US$29.05 million), down approximately 57%, compared to the same month in 2010. Total net sales for 2011 reached NT$18,615 million, (US$614.5 million) up 7.6% from 2010.
