Search Results for: supply chain – Page 204

JinkoSolar and Saint-Gobain Building Distribution Deutschland have signed a contract in which the Chinese PV manufacturer will supply the German company with 54MW of crystalline-silicon solar modules. The deal calls for Jinko to ship 4MW of panels to SGBDD this year, with the remaining 50MW to be supplied in 2011.

Sustainable Energy Technologies announced that it will be moving its North American inverter assembly and test center to Guelph, Ontario, with an expected 4MW per month production of its Sunergy inverters by the first quarter 2011. Melitron, a Guelph based manufacturer, will run the facility and also provide enclosures for the Sunergy inverter.

The latest figures for the German Bundesnetzagentur show that registered installations in Germany in the first eight months of 2010 reached 4.8GW, a massive 327% higher than the same period in 2009. According to IMS Research, Germany accounted for 48% of global demand in the first three quarters of 2010 – up from 40% for the same period in 2009.

Although not citing confirmed orders from the recent EU PVSEC in Valencia, regarded by many suppliers to the PV manufacturing industry as the most important event each year, centrotherm photovoltaics has confirmed it is in advanced contract negotiations with well-known companies up and down the supply chain. centrotherm photovoltaics is the second largest equipment supplier in the sector, after Applied Materials.

In contrast to the cloud of uncertainty prevailing over much of the thin-film equipment supply chain today, recent quarterly results within the c-Si segment from the likes of Centrotherm, Roth and Rau, Manz Automation, Applied Materials, and Amtech suggest sunny times lie ahead for these leading c-Si tool suppliers.

Tasked with managing the integration of recently acquired companies as well as being in charge of production, quality management, supply chain amongst other duties, Roth & Rau has appointed former CEO of acquired OTB, Dr. Paul Breddels as its new Chief Operating Officer.

Just when it was safe to say that the severe polysilicon shortages from a few years ago were long-gone and that a era of oversupply boded well for users in the solar industry, issues have emerged within the supply chain that are forcing spot prices higher once again. According to a report from Barclays Capital financial analyst, Visal Shah, checks have shown that spot prices have risen to as high as US$70-80/kg, yet spot prices were at US$55-60/kg range, only a few weeks ago. Bottlenecks were said to have appeared from polysilicon through to wafering, according to the analyst.

PV industry module and component manufacturers have brought down costs significantly over the last four years. This trend is clearly evident as most publicly traded companies continue to grow revenue despite falling module and component prices. However, it is far less clear how downstream system integrators are handling the drop in system prices and contributing to value creation. System prices are generally higher in the U.S. than in Europe, despite lower module prices in the U.S. This disparity often raises questions on the part of European PV professionals where these costs come from, and secondly, what have U.S. system integrators done to reduce costs. This two-part series will shed light on how U.S. system integrators have undertaken tremendous efforts to decrease cost and add value through innovation by focussing on labour-intensive value creation in the downstream segment. Part I will focus on the residential market segment by delving into activity cost savings through innovation in engineering and construction, while Part II will illustrate how changes in sales, rebates, interconnection, and the supply-chain management over the last five years have reduced costs.

Camstar Systems’ employees will soon be seeing new faces at their Silicon Valley headquarters with the company’s new purchase of SigmaQuest. Camstar has bought the new company in its entirety, with all SigmaQuest employees to become Camstar staff members. SigmaQuest is a provider of software as a service supply (SaaS) chain intelligence solution.

Despite only a small improvement in solar inverter component supply expected in the second-half of the year, IMS Research has raised its forecast for global photovoltaics system installations. The market research firm expects installs to reach 14.6 GW, a 95% increase from 2009 and nearly three times size of the market back in 2008. Increased demand from Germany and other European countries is fuelling demand but growth in other regions such as the U.S. is playing a part, IMS Research said.