SAG Solarstrom’s sale of the 48MW Serenissima PV plant in Italy to an unnamed European investor will be concluded shortly, the company has announced. The completion of the sale was delayed by contingent high administrative efforts.
A recent report by market analysts Yole Développement has predicted that the PV equipment and materials markets will drive manufacturing cost reduction, leading to the purchase of in the region of 35GWp of new equipment by 2017. The report, “Crystalline Silicon PV: Technology, Equipment & Materials”, singles out the c-Si sector as facing a period of change whereby the low-efficiency portion of manufacturing capacity will be shut down in order to concentrate on the higher-yielding technologies.
Bloomberg BusinessWeek has reported that R. Todd Neilson, a forensic accountant and former FBI special agent, has advised in a recent report filed with the US Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware, that Solyndra communicated truthful information about its finances to the government before it claimed bankruptcy last year.
After announcing last October that it was halting polysilicon production at its German facility and cutting wafer jobs in the UK, it is perhaps no surprise that PV Crystalox Solar has posted some rather dreary numbers for 2011. Group revenue was €210.4 million, 17% lower than 2010, due to what the company stated was the effect of lower average selling prices. EBIT, before exceptional items, was €4.1 million, a 1.9% margin. The company did note that shipment volumes of 384MW were reached in 2011, compared to 378MW in 2010.
Having posted record revenue of CHF 1.32 billion in 2011, major PV equipment supplier, Meyer Burger acknowledge that 2012 would be a lean year due to overcapacity and significant cuts to capital spending from PV manufacturers. The company guided revenue to be down significantly in 2012 and in the range of CHF 600–800 million and an EBITDA margin between 4–8%. Management noted that it didn’t expect a recovery in demand for equipment until 2013 and had started a restructuring plan to reduce operating costs with a 15% workforce reduction.
Emphasis on high-performance module production and increased shipments to markets such as the US and Japan, to take advantage of growing utility-scale and residential businesses respectively, was a key highlight in JA Solar’s quarterly conference call. China, would also receive greater attention as partnerships with utility customers expanded its pipeline.
Renewable Energy Corporation said that operating its 300MW monocrystalline wafer plant in Glomfjord, Norway would continue to lose money despite cost reduction efforts and that it will therefore be closed permanently. The plant closure will affect 200 employees.
China’s success will cause Germany’s solar manufacturing industry to vanish, predicts a member of EON’s managing board. Klaus-Dieter Maubach stated the industry will become non-existent in five years time.
China-based developer Solar EnerTech Corp has advised that despite its financial struggles requiring it to deregister its common stock; it has retained FTI Consulting to lead its restructuring plans. A chief restructuring officer from FTI has been appointed to explore alternatives to maximize the return to investors.
Sunlogics Power, a subsidiary of the Salamon Group, is now the senior creditor of the collapsed DayStar Technologies, a company developing thin-film CIGS deposition technology. Sunlogics is DayStar’s business development and strategic opportunities consultant and will continue to advise in this function.
