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.
In our first full year online, we have steadily increased the number of new products we have reviewed and also seen the new products section gain increasingly greater traffic levels throughout the year. Looking through the traffic numbers, we have identified the Top 5 most popular reviews of new products for your enjoyment.
The materials sector of the photovoltaics industry saw quite a few developments in the past year. Polysilicon cost, especially given the ongoing economic downturn, had risen for most of 2008, but the expected rise in polysilicon supply has seen prices fall by around 50% over the course of the year.
Suntech Power Holdings has secured more than 130MW in orders from Italy in 2009 and has now established a sales office in Milan to support its growing customer base. The booked orders indicate that the Italian market is finally picking up pace after only 12.5MW was installed in 2006 and 50.2MW installed in 2007, according to a recent EU-funded report.
Product Briefing Outline: Rohm and Haas Company has launched its new line of ‘Enlight’ materials suite of products for crystalline silicon cell photovoltaic manufacturing. The Enlight product suite is designed to improve traditional solar cell processing by increasing cell efficiency and increasing manufacturing yields.
Q-Cells SE has been forced to make significant revisions to its financial and manufacturing forecasts for 2008 and 2009 due to the credit crisis creating restrictions on new solar projects. The world’s largest photovoltaics manufacturer said that customer push outs had increased at short notice. The large volumes as had been pushed out are virtually impossible to place with other customers at such short notice, leading to these significant effects on the company's revenue generation.
Edwards and Tokyo Electron Limited (TEL) are to jointly develop a perfluorocarbon (PFC) gas abatement system dielectric film etching processes that will also be able to abate carbon monoxide. The ‘PA-01E’ abatement tool will also be developed with input from Adtec Plasma Technology Co., Ltd., of Japan.
Suntech Power Holdings' first thin-film line using Applied Materials' ‘SunFab’ turnkey technology will complete installation by the end of the year, noted Dr. Stuart Wenham, Suntech’s Chief Technology Officer, during a conference call with financial analysts.
Suntech Power Holdings has reacted to the seasonal slowdown and tight credit conditions for customers by halting planned capacity expansions and cutting capital spending from US$300 million in 2008 to only US$80 million in 2009. Suntech reiterated that it would reach a nominal capacity of 1GW by the end of 2008. However, the company said that further planned increases would be halted for 2009. Previously, Suntech had planned to reach a nominal capacity of 1.4GW in 2009 and 2GW in 2010. Nominal capacity reached in 3Q08 was 750MW.
BP Solar’s 50MW photovoltaic cell and module manufacturing plant in Sydney Olympic Park, Australia is to close at the end of March 2009, as the company focuses production at larger scale facilities in other parts of the world. Approximately 200 jobs will be affected by the closure, but BP Solar said it would continue to market and sell its solar systems in the country.
