Calisolar has bought 6N Silicon, in a stock-for-stock transaction between the two privately held companies. In addition to the acquisition, $22.5 million in funding was raised from existing Calisolar and 6N investors, according to the companies. The new funds will be used to increase capacity at Calisolar's Sunnyvale, CA, UMG-grade silicon photovoltaic cell manufacturing facility and expand silicon purification operations in Vaughan, ON, where 6N will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of the parent company.
SolarCity has named John Stanton, veteran of the Solar Energy Industries Association, as its vice president of government affairs. He will lead SolarCity's work with federal and state government organizations on a wide range of renewable energy policy issues. He previously worked with SEIA, where he was the executive vice president and general counsel.
Having announced plans last November to expand solar wafer capacity to 1GW in 2010, ReneSola has backed this up with a new supply agreement to provide 600MW of solar modules to an unidentified but described as a ‘major global solar company.’ The new contract calls for ReneSola to provide 200MW of solar modules annually for three years with shipments starting in 2010. This is ReneSola’s first major OEM contract.
GDF Suez has signed an agreement to build the largest PV power facility in France. The energy provider, its joint venture partners and the Mayor of Curbans, Daniel Rolland, signed the Curbans-based project contract together. This project goes towards GDF Suez's 2013 goal of achieving a diversified electricity production base with an installed capacity of 10,000MW.
Matheson Tri-Gas and Rasirc have signed an exclusive distributor agreement, in which the gas company will distribute the equipment manufacturer's purification and delivery systems for controlled humidification and ultrapure steam generation throughout the United States.
Business partners in ‘String Ribbon’ licensee Sovello, which include Evergreen Solar, Q-Cells and REC Group, have agreed key terms and conditions and signed a declaration of intent with an unidentified investor for the sale of the struggling solar module producer. Sovello said in a statement that the investor had been interested in purchasing the company for some time. The Management Board expects the transaction to be completed in the first quarter of 2010.
String Ribbon solar module producer, Evergreen Solar expects its nameplate capacity to reach 170MW in 2010, based primarily on its Wuhan, China facility coming online as expected, this summer. The 100MW plant, operated by Jiawei Solarchina is expected to ramp to 20 to 25MW of capacity per quarter in early 2011 and produce a wafer for about US$0.45 per watt and a panel for around US$1.25 per watt. However, with a high cash burn rate for the loss making manufacturer, the 70%-plus capacity increase will require the company to raise more money, according to Mike El-Hillow, Evergreen Solar’s COO and CFO in a conference call to discuss fourth quarter financial results.
The reintroduction of subsidies and a new feed-in tariff introduced in November 2009 helped to more than double solar sales in Japan in 2009, compared to the previous year. According to the Japan Photovoltaic Energy Association, sales reached 483.96MW in 2009, up from approximately 230MW in 2008. Japanese PV solar cell and module manufacturers also increased exports to the U.S., which were up 21% compared to the previous year, reaching 203.17MW in 2009.
In ongoing module performance tests by Photon International magazine, SolarWorld has touted that is has once again demonstrated that its modules generated more electricity than all competitive products tested, producing up to 12% more power than the others.
Consistent with its announced plans for further small-scale power plants in Italy, TerniEnergia has plans to build a 1MW PV power plant in the Apulia region at a cost of approximately €3 million. The plant will be owned by TRP-PVE, an Italian-Chinese joint venture company.
