LDK Solar has signed a contract to supply 13MW of solar modules to the Power Systems division of Italy-based ABB. The modules will be delivered in the third quarter of 2010 in the first stage of a wider cooperation agreement, which is under negotiation, to supply ABB with larger volumes of solar modules in the remainder of 2010 and 2011.
As of July 1, 2010, the amount of applications for photovoltaic systems installed under the micro-generation feed-in tariff in Ontario, Canada, reached 16,000. The majority of these applications have been for ground-mounted systems and thus, the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) has designed a FiT cut for any systems of this kind of 10kW or less, to stop the pressure this will place on tax payers.
Jörg Eggersdorfer, current member of IBC Solar's board of directors and commercial director since 2009, has been appointed company chief financial officer. Eggersdorfer will maintain responsibility for accounting, financial controlling, human resources, IT, order processing and logistics.
Meyer Burger has appointed a new chief executive officer at its subsidiary, 3S Swiss Solar Systems, as predecessor Dr. Patrick Hofer-Noser turns his focus to his role within the company as chief technology officer and executive board member. Philippe Baur will now assume the responsibilities of this position, as of July 26.
Jiangsu Zhongneng Polysilicon Technology Development, a subsidiary of GCL-Poly, has begun commercial operations at its 200,000MT hydrochlorination facilities. The facilities ensure the stable production of polysilicon and significant upgrade of product quality to a higher level, allowing full recycling of by-products, and achieving lower polysilicon production cost to reach levels similar to that of global incumbents.
As the photovoltaic marketplace expands by the day, pvXchange declares that after just six months of business in 2010 it has already brokered more modules and inverters than during the course of the whole of 2009. The online trading platform, which buys and sells solar photovoltaic equipment, has also seen a further 1,000 participants registering online since the beginning of this year.
In a bid to expand into the photovoltaic testing marketplace, Westpak Laboratories, the independent environmental testing company, announces the selection of the Atonometrics UV Exposure System to test and certify photovoltaic modules.
Crystalline silicon solar cell manufacturer, China Sunergy, has announced the departure of company VP and general manager of the operations division. Yang Fang ("Roger") has resigned from his position due to personal reasons.
ABB, the power and automation technology group based in Switzerland, has won an order worth US$50 million from Actelios Solar, to supply three photovoltaic solar power plants in western Sicily, Italy. The plants, with a total combined power capacity of over 13MW, will be based in Spinasanta, Cardonita and Sugherotorto and will be 6MW, 3.8MW and 3.3MW respectively.
The Conciliation Committee of the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, and Bundesrat, the federal council, finally reached a compromise on July 6 over the controversial reduction of Solar Funding. The committee recommended slightly reducing the proposed 16% cuts over a three-month transition period in order to resolve the political dispute over the changes to the country's feed-in tariff.
