Americas

Ceradyne has completed its acquisition of VIOX, a specialty glass company based in Seattle, Washington. Over the past few years VIOX has seen around 70% of its sales come from solar glass products, which have been specifically formulated for polycrystalline silicon solar PV applications. Ceradyne bought VIOX with a US$27 million cash payment at closing, which also includes a post-closing adjustment in two months. Additionally, conditional payment of up to US$22 million may be paid if VIOX reaches certain sales diversification and earnings targets over a 30-month period after the closing.

CIGSSe photovoltaic module manufacturer Stion said it will build a new production facility in Mississippi as part of an incentive agreement with the state that includes a $75 million loan and other tax and training incentives. The project, which will be the first thin-film solar panel factory in Mississippi, will deliver more than 1000 jobs and $500 million of investment over the next six years.

The German module manufacturer, Sovello, has now received official accreditation to supply its modules in the U.K., Australia and Ireland as well as in Florida and California in the U.S. The certificates from the Australian Clear Energy Council (CEC), the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), the British BRE Global, the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), and Go Solar California were issued in Q4 2010.

NuGen Capital Management and KDC Solar have come together for the formation of a joint venture, which will aim to develop, construct, own and operate commercial-scale behind-the-meter PV solar installations in New Jersey. The projects will range in size from 1MW to 10MW, with the first project being installed on White Rose Food’s distribution warehouse in Carteret, New Jersey.

Xtreme Power and Xcel Energy will cooperatively install a 1MW solar system at the Solar Technology Acceleration Center (SolarTAC) in order to gather operational data for energy storage combined with solar energy systems. Xtreme’s utility-scale energy storage Dynamic Power Resources (DPR) system will be used on the project to conduct various energy storage and grid asset functions, which include output smoothing, time shifting and forecast error mitigation.

NuGen Capital Management and KDC Solar have selected Solar Power to develop their joint venture: the White Rose distribution warehouse rooftop installation in Carteret, New Jersey. The 5MW rooftop system will be designed, engineered, and constructed by Solar Power which, under its engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with NuGen and KDC Solar, will also monitor and service the solar plant once it is completed.

In a blow to homegrown U.S. solar manufacturing, Intel spinoff SpectraWatt will be laying off most of its workforce and possibly closing down operations, according to published reports. The crystalline-silicon PV cell manufacturer will let more than 100 employees go starting in March of next year and may shutter its less-than-year-old factory located in IBM’s Hudson Research Park in Hopewell Junction, NY.

Renewable energy project developer Sustainable Energy Capital Partners (SECP) has formed a joint venture partnership with Korean independent power producer Posco Power to develop and build a 300MW photovoltaic power plant in Boulder City, Nevada. Global engineering/construction/management services firm Parsons has also signed on to the project.

Starting January 1, 2011, Advanced Energy Industries will have two new business units: Thin Films and Renewables. The Thin Film division will be led by Yuval Wasserman who will also act as president and COO for the business unit. The Thin Film business division will be headquartered in Fort Collins, Colorado and will house the company’s power conversion and thermal instrumentation products for capital equipment markets such as the semiconductor, solar panel and flat panel display industries.

The U.S. Department of the Interior has given its seal of approval to SolarReserve’s Nevada-based Crescent Dunes solar thermal plant. Construction work on the 110MW plant is scheduled to begin in mid-2011, with total costs for the project expected to be around US$475 million.