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.
Activ Solar has finished the fifth and final construction phase of its 100MW Perovo Solar Power Station in Ukraine. This last development stage, completed on December 28, added a further 20MW to capacity, thus making the Perovo Europe's largest PV system.
Renewable energy project developer, juwi is looking for 40 apprentices as it prepares to expand operations in 2012 after a successful 2011, according to the company. The project developer is currently building a third office block at its headquarters in Wörrstadt, Germany, which is expected to house a total of 400 employees when the new office expansion is completed.
Daqo New Energy was named a 2011 China Cleantech Top 20 winner by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and Tsing Capital. The award aims to recognize organizations in the cleantech sector in China that support the sustainable growth in the country.
Activ Solar has completed Phase IV of its Perovo Solar Power Station, adding a further 20MW to the system’s size. Perovo’s total capacity now stands at 80MW and with ramping up still ongoing – Activ Solar has yet to reveal the full size of the plant – it looks set to be one of the largest PV projects in Europe.
China Sunergy advised that it had shipped 1.59MW of its solar panels to Emotion Energy, which has partnered with Edison Energy to install solar panels for 117 houses in a residential rooftop project in Faifley, Scotland for the Knowes Housing Association Scotland. The PV project will allow 117 Knowes tenants to partake in the energy generated from the solar panels free of charge for 25 years. The solar project was installed prior to the change in FiT on December 12.
The 38th IEEE Photovoltaics Specialists Conference (PVSC), June 3 – 8, 2012 in Austin, Texas, will be opening its registration on December 26. The event will begin with Austin Solar Day on June 3, 2012 while the remainder of the event will focus on ten technical areas including, fundamentals and new concepts for future technologies, thin-film polycrystalline photovoltaics, III-V and concentrator technologies, crystalline silicon photovoltaics, thin-film silicon-based technologies, OPV, space technologies, characterization methods, PV modules and terrestrial systems and a PV velocity forum.
T-Solar has signed three loan agreements worth US$145 million to finance two PV plants in Peru. The systems, which have a combined capacity of 44MW, are the first large-scale solar installations in Latin America and will cover 206 hectares of land in the Arequipa region of southern Peru.
