Search Results for: supply chain – Page 209

The PV industry has had another explosive growth year in 2008. As is often the case, news in only the last few months of the year have painted the perception that things are turning for the worse as the credit crunch manifested in the U.S. turns into a global economic recession, impacting the growth in the PV sector along the way. When reviewing the top news stories within the ‘Market Watch’ section, it was pleasing to see that there was a balanced mix between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ news that generated the most traffic.

Hoku Materials said it has signed a supply agreement for hydrochloric acid with BHS Acquisitions. The deal is Hoku's second trichlorosilane primary materials agreement in a week, following the announcement of its metallurgical-grade silicon contract with Polymet.

Hoku Materials has signed a silicon metal supply agreement with Polymet Alloys. The wholly owned subsidiary of Hoku Scientific said it plans to use the metallurgical-grade silicon for the production of trichlorosilane, a critical raw material in the manufacture of solar-grade polysilicon.

A new analysis from iSuppli forecasts that the price of polysilicon will begin a "precipitous plunge in 2009 after peaking this year," as the supply of the raw material exceeds demand. At fault, according to the research firm, are "fundamental imbalances in the solar supply chain." After peaking at as high as $500 per kilogram this year and suppliers largely dictating terms to customers during a three-year price rise, the report sees the average spot market price for poly dropping next year to as low as $200 per kilogram.

The use of perfluorinated gases such as NF3, CF4 or SF6 for PECVD (plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition) chamber cleaning has a much higher impact on global warming than does the use of onsite-generated F2. This holds true even when supposing that in the future much more effort is paid for the correct abatement and a leak-free supply and take-back chain. This paper will discuss the steps available to the PV industry for control and reduction of carbon emissions in the chamber cleaning process.

Canadian Solar said it has completed and commissioned Phase I of its ingot and wafer plant on schedule. The new production capacity gives the company an annualized ingot and wafer capacity of 60 MW. CSI has also reiterated its 2009 guidance figures.

Product Briefing Outline: The ‘Eyelit Manufacturing’ solution delivers a full featured, technically advanced manufacturing execution system (MES), asset management, product costing, plant-level connectivity hub, and broad spectrum of other essential functionality. By giving clear insight into production process efficiency, performance/equipment efficiency, inventory control and resource management along with the ability to automatically react to conditions in any factory system, Eyelit Manufacturing suite enables customers to coordinate, control, and respond to changing demands in production.

At the recently held Global PV Demand Conference, hosted by SolarPlaza, attendees raised concern over the potential overcapacity in the photovoltaics industry having a significant impact, starting in 2009.

Canadian Solar (CSI) and GCL Silicon Technology have signed new long-term supply agreements, in which GCL will provide 510 metric tons of high-purity polysilicon feedstock over the next two years and approximately 1.8 GW of solar wafers to CSI from 2010-2015.

Schneider Electric is to purchase Xantrex Technology, Inc. in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $412 million. Xantrex is a top 3 global player in the solar and wind inverter market and number 1 in the U.S. As a condition to the sale, Xantrex will divest its programmable power business to AMETEK, Inc. for $120 million in cash.