Solarbuzz has announced Finlay Colville as the new senior analyst who will be in charge of improving the company’s reporting on solar manufacturing equipment, which includes technologies and trends and forecasts in the solar industry. The new appointment comes after Solarbuzz’s recent acquisition by the NPD Group last month.
Aide Solar, a subsidiary of the Panjit Group, publicized the grand opening of its Xuzhou, China, solar cell/module production facility. At over 1 million square feet, the new facility is reported to be able to increase the company’s poly- and monocrystalline silicon PV module capacity by 40%--a grand total of 350MW per year. The new plant has 12 solar cell production lines and brings the Aide Solar employee count to 1,184 people worldwide.
SolarBridge Technologies has obtained $15 million in series B funding with Rho Ventures, a new investor for the company who lead the round of financing. To date, SolarBridge has raised over $27 million.
In an effort to continue environmental conservation efforts, Linde Gases has announced to its customers the opportunity to diminish their CO2 emissions by a quarter of a million tons this year by switching to on-site generated fluorine (F2) from the more traditional nitrogen trifluoride (NF3).
Trina Solar announced that its subsidiary, Changzhou Trina Solar Energy, will be introducing a new utility-scale solar module, TSM-PC14, at the May 2010 Solarexpo in Verona, Italy. The new module has a fourth quarter availability target date for sales in Europe and North America.
Phoenix Solar has released its annual report, which includes the consolidated financial statements from their 2009 financial year. The company shows a growth in total revenue of €473 million, up from 2008’s €402.5 million. In addition, their module sales increased by around 70%, from 120MW in 2008 to more than 200MW in 2009.
Mercury Solar Systems and the US Department of Energy’s NREL have formed a partnership in the name of solar energy research advancement. The NREL will take data from its own long-term research of Mercury’s solar test-bed. The system will be built on Mercury’s corporate headquarters roof in New York with full operation slated to begin by the end of the summer. The project was partially financed with a grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
After nearly being indefinitely closed down, Sydney’s Olympic Park plant has re-opened with an estimated 10,000 rooftop solar panel systems ready to be produced per year. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that 100 people will be newly employed with the plant by the end of the year.
Evergreen Solar released that it will offer $165 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior secured notes due 2015. The notes will be offered and sold to qualified buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1993. The notes have not been registered under the Securities Act and may not be offered or sold in the US absent registration or following an exemption from such registration requirements.
Spanish renewable energy generators Iberdrola Renovables, Acciona and EDP Renovaveis shares took a hard hit after a Spanish news site, El Confidencial, released information, which stated that the Spanish government is looking to possibly retroactively cut pre-2009 renewable subsidies.
