PV Tech’s preliminary analysis of global PV manufacturing capacity expansion announcements in July and August, 2016 highlight the industry fears over a new period of overcapacity across the supply chain after explosive growth plans announced in the first half of 2016.
CIS thin-film module manufacturer Solar Frontier has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MO) with Saudi Aramco and the Saudi Arabian National Industrial Cluster Development Program (NICDP) on the feasibility of establishing a thin-film module production plant in Saudi Arabia.
PV thin-film equipment and module producer Hanergy Thin Film Power Group (Hanergy TF) has claimed to have bounced back from a non-cash loss of around US$1.58 billion in 2015 to a first half 2016 net profit of around US$105.8 million.
PV and electronics equipment manufacturing and automation specialist Manz AG has reported continued demand for automation system in China for solar manufacturing applications that have generated €17.5 million in first half year revenue, up 66.7% from the prior year period.
Leading CdTe thin-film producer First Solar is undergoing a mid-year restructuring that includes cost cutting activities that should generate a US$2 billion balance sheet cushion against changing solar business dynamics and a looming revenue and shipment hole facing the company in 2017.
With First Solar’s revenue and shipment guidance unchanged and basically locked-in for 2016, despite solar industry dynamics becoming increasingly fluid, filling demand for 3GW of thin-film module capacity in 2017 has become a priority for management as a rather large hole in bookings is proving difficult to fill.
Leading CdTe thin-film producer First Solar is undertaking a further round of restructuring that targets its EPC and O&M operations after its decision to shutdown its TetraSun crystalline silicon operations in Malaysia in early July.
Leading CdTe thin-film producer First Solar said it had secured a total of 121MW of community solar projects in the US with around 41MW (DC) under construction by EPC firm M+W Energy.
Leading CIS thin-film producer Solar Frontier said it had completed on schedule the largest PV power plant in Nagasaki Prefecture that resides next to Nagasaki airport runway.
PV Tech’s preliminary analysis of global PV manufacturing capacity expansion announcements in June, clearly demonstrate a significant slowdown in recent months.
