JinkoSolar has restarted solar cell production at its plant in Haining, China, after receiving approval by the local Haining government and an appointed panel of experts that remediation work after a fluoride chemical leak satisfied environmental requirements. Clearance by the ‘Experts Committee’ was issued to JinkSolar on October 9, according to the company.
Voltaix has formed a sales and customer support office in Shanghai, China. The company’s Asian business manager, Yun Liu, will be responsible for running the office and also implementing the regional sales and marketing strategy.
Three months ahead of schedule, Wacker Chemie has started ramping its new polysilicon plant in Nünchritz, Germany. The €900 million investment which includes debottlenecking strategies to boost output to 15,000MT per annum has created 500 new jobs at the plant. Full nominal capacity is expected to be operational in the second quarter of 2012.
A power outage on October 4 at REC’s polysilicon production facilities in Moses Lake, Washington, caused a complete shut down of operations. REC said there had been no safety issues, but it would be two to three weeks before full production could be resumed at pre-outage levels, resulting in a 500MT reduction to REC’s previously guided annual output at the facility of 19,000MT.
Citing recently undertaken ‘channel checks,’ Jefferies equity analyst Jesse Pichel said in an investor note that both Tier 1 & 2 China-based module manufacturers were running at ~50% utilization rates due to overcapacity and weak demand, especially in light of the lack of financing for PV projects across Europe. With respect to Tier 3 producers, Jeffries said that some have effectively stopped production and shut down plants.
Although the company has long held a presence in the country via its distribution network, Tenesol has decided to establish a subsidiary company in Marousi, central Greece. The company has appointed Manthos Kallios, formerly of PPC Renewables, as general manager of the subsidiary.
Damage limitation to JinkoSolar’s image and reputation kicked into gear during a hastily arranged telephone conference call to provide its side of the fluoride chemical waste leak at its cell manufacturing facility in Haining City, Zhejiang Province, China. The leak into a local small river sparked demonstrations and damage to offices and vehicles at the plant that had been picked-up by the international mainstream media.
Saint-Gobain has begun construction on its first manufacturing plant in North America. Located in Goodyear, Arizona, the facility will house the company’s mirror line for solar thermal power stations and supply the domestic US market. The plant, with an estimated production capacity that corresponds to an annual thermal output of 300MW, is anticipated to be online by the 2011 fourth quarter.
Several days of angry demonstrations by local residents after a fluoride leak from a JinkoSolar-owned cell manufacturing plant have led to the plant closing. According to reports, the plant had been warned of environmental noncompliance earlier this year, but after residents broke through gates, overturning cars and ransacking offices, local government officials have ordered the closure of the plant in Hongxiao, China.
As Governor Osuna of Baja California toured CPV company Arima Operations in Taipei, Arima and Baja Sun Energy advised of their plan to form Mexico’s first integrated solar business. The new company will build a CPV solar system manufacturing plant and use the panels manufactured by the plant to install a utility-sized solar generation facility at the Silicon Border CleanTECH Park in Mexicali, Mexico.
