The bankrupt French polysilicon production venture, Silicium de Provence S.A.S. (SilPro) in which Solon SE had a major stake, has been forced to make an impairment charge of €52 million consisting of write-downs of €39 million on the carrying value of its equity investment and of €13 million charge on the carrying amount of a shareholder loan related to the failed enterprise.
Not all the news from First Solar’s second-quarter conference call was good. Granted, the CdTe thin film leader impressed again with its continued benchmark performance on productivity, lowest cost per watt and revenue generation, however the sombre note regarded pricing pressure seen from the traditional c-Si module manufacturers.
A new world record of 99.03 % for the efficiency of inverters used in photovoltaic systems has been set by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. Key to the new record was using junction field-effect transistors (JFETs) made of silicon carbide (SiC) manufactured by SemiSouth Laboratories as well as improving the circuit technology used in the device.
Continuing to demonstrate benchmark revenue growth in a difficult market for photovoltaic manufacturers, First Solar Inc has posted second-quarter revenue of US$525.9 million, up from US$418.2 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2009. In the same quarter of 2008, First Solar generated revenue of US$267 million. First Solar has now generated revenue of US$944.1 million in the first six months of fiscal 2009.
First Solar will build and operate a 100MW plus capacity CdTe thin-film plant in France for EDF Energies Nouvelles, equally sharing the capital and start-up costs, with EDF taking all production volumes for a 10-year period. In essence, First Solar has added ‘contract manufacturing’ or ‘foundry’ operations to its evolving business model. According to the new partners, the new 100MW plus plant will require an initial capital investment of more than €90 million. Full production is planned for the second half of 2011. The location of the site is expected to be announced in the next few months and will also include a facility for recycling solar panels, France’s first such facility and Europe’s only solar panel recycling plant outside of Germany.
In a new report from IC Insights, major solar cell manufacturers from Japan are finding the competition tough from relatively new players from the U.S. (First Solar), Germany (Q-Cells), China (Suntech), and the likes of Taiwan-based Motech. The 2006 number-one supplier, Sharp, was said to have suffered the most, falling to fourth-ranked supplier by revenue in 2008, according to the market research firm.
Take any market research firm’s data on end-user demand for solar modules and compare that with manufacturing supply and there is a massive gap to the negative, pushing prices lower from bare wafers to modules. Last week, Q-Cells binned its forecast for revenue for 2009, citing continued lack of demand and falling prices due to the competitive landscape caused by overcapacity.
BrightView Systems, an Israel-based production process optimization start-up, will team with the Thin-Film Photovoltaics Laboratory at the Neuchatel Institute of Microengineering (IMT) to target the optimization and effective control of optical and electrical cell properties for next generation thin-film technologies.
Gary Fazzino, a former Mayor of Palo Alto and Hewlett-Packard's Vice President of Government and Public Affairs since May 2000 has joined Applied Materials as Vice President, Government Affairs, responsible for Applied’s global government relations programs.
SMA Solar Technology AG has inaugurated its new 18,000 square meter solar inverter factory, which takes its annual production capacity to 4GW. The facility is also claimed to be the first of its kind to be CO2 neutral. The electricity and heat demand is covered by renewable energy sources that include a 1.1MW integrated PV system and a combined heat and power plant fueled with bio-gas generates CO2-neutral electricity. The company obtains additional power for the facility from other renewable sources.
