CIGS thin-film photovoltaics manufacturer SoloPower has received a conditional commitment for a $197 million loan guarantee from the US. Department of Energy Loan Programs office. The company said the funds will support construction of a flexible thin-film module manufacturing facility in Wilsonville, OR, that, when completed and at full capacity, is expected to have an annual capacity of approximately 400MW.
Global PV demand of 18GW in 2011 is being projected by investment bank, Roth Capital Partners. Concerns of major overcapacity in module production exist but estimates bankable module supply is in the 21GW range and would only exceed demand by approximately 18%.
A new report from IMS Research highlights that the PV inverter market has gone from chronic shortages to major overcapacity in the last 12 months. High levels of inventory were recorded in the fourth quarter of 2010 and into the New Year, according to the market research firm. Despite the overcapacity concerns, the global PV inverter market is forecast to reach US$8.5 billion by 2014.
Semiconductor capital equipment supplier Tegal and consultancy se2quel Partners have formed sequel Power, a new company focused on the development and operation of very large-scale solar photovoltaic-based utilities in the United States, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. At least 10 projects in the range of 750MW (DC) to 1.1GW (DC) are in various stages of negotiation, and all are located in high-insolation regions, according to company sources.
Mannington Township has approved Lincoln Renewable Energy's planning application for its 10MW Cedar Solar farm in Salem County, New Jersey. Lincoln Renewable plan to start work at the 129-acre site in early 2011, with construction costs estimated at US$60 million.
In reporting its fourth-quarter earnings, Applied Materials (AMAT) announced net sales within its Energy & Environmental Services (EES) segment (which includes PV tool revenues) of US$606 million. Accordingly, Solarbuzz equipment supplier analysis reveals that AMAT has just reached a significant landmark: the first equipment supplier to reach and exceed the US$1 billion barrier for PV-specific trended ttm tool revenues. Certainly, this achievement offers comfort to tool suppliers that the PV segment has grown to an appreciable level. However, while every other PV tool supplier would welcome reaching this milestone, AMAT’s road taken to the US$1 billion PV revenue mark has been far from incident free.
Critical information and insight source, IHS, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire iSuppli. The transaction, which is subject to closing conditions contained in the agreement document, is expected to be completed by November 15.
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.
