Market conditions dim; brake lights ahead
Globe Metallurgical refinanced its existing • unveiled new line for the contact-free director Peter V. Schwartz as VP of product
debt with a new US 75,000,000 credit application of metallic front contacts engineering.
facility. to crystalline solar cells. Solargiga added 200 monocrystalline sili-
Gallant Precision Machining debuted • acquired CLS LaborAtomationssys- con growing furnaces in 2008, plans to add
automatic manufacturing equipment for teme GmbH. an additional 200 furnaces in 2009.
producing crystalline silicon solar cells. Mitsubishi Chemical completed its Tsu- Solsil is spending US $56 million to open
Green Energy increased its total silicon kuba Solar Park. a solar silicon production operation in
ingot growing equipment production Meyer Burger Technology received CHF Ohio.
capacity to 250MWp. 30 million follow-up contract from Konca Spire renewed 45,000 SF lease in Hudson,
GT Solar New Hampshire, and named:
• completed its 50,000 sq.ft. expansion • Dr. Avishai Kepten VP of solar cell
in Merrimack, NH (U.S.).
“By the end of 2009,
lines
• was added to Nasdaq stock exchange. • Jae-Bok Young VP of business
• hired Bruce Hazeltine as director of PV module production • Martin Stein VP of engineering and
process development.
capacity will exceed de-
new product development,
• added former Western Digital chair- • Louis Insalaco, Jr. VP of manufactur-
man and CEO, Matthew Massengill, to mand by as much as 3.8 ing
its board of directors.
GW, and module prices
• Michael Hurton VP of strategic re-
• received US $46.8 million polysilicon source management.
production equipment contract from will decline by 36% by Staubli Robotics introduced TX200 robot
Top Green Energy Technologies.
• Hyundai Heavy Industries
2010.”
for solar PV manufacturing applications.
Sunrise Solar
• built new 40,000 m2 factory in Eum- • formed new R&D Division.
seong, South Korea, with five 50 MW • appointed Dr. Jun Kim lead director of
fully-automated lines. Solar for high tech wire saws. research.
• invested US $115 million on a poly- Newport enhanced its Technology and Suntech Power invested US $100 million
silicon JV with KCC in DaeJuk, South Applications center with solar PV device for minority interest in Nitol Solar.
Korea. characterization and material-science Taiwan Glass Industrial is investing US
Hoku Materials capabilities. $62.7 million to increase its PV solar cell
• expects new polysilicon plant in Nisshinbo is investing 10 billion yen to glass substrate manufacturing capacity.
Pocatello, Idaho, to be operational in build new solar cell manufacturing equip- Tatung Group broke ground on new
1H’09. ment factories. 20,000 MWp+ solar ingot growing and
• ordered EUR 5 million worth of float- Osaka Titanium is constructing a 2,200- slicing plant in China.
zone crystal growing systems from PVA t/y polysilicon plant in Kishiwada, Japan. Telesis introduced EV4G green laser sys-
TEPla Danmark, Frederikssund. OTB Solar released a METx metalliza- tem for use in electronics, semiconductor,
• signed electric service agreement with tion screen printer and DEPx2400 silicon solar and medical industries.
Idaho Power Company, enabling it to nitride deposition tool. UL expanded its North American Photo-
produce 4,000 metric tons of polysili- Philips Technologie subsidiary U-L-M voltaic Technology Center of Excellence in
con in 2009. Photonics purchased a laser dicing system San Jose, CA.
Indium from ALSI. VDE Institute and the Fraunhofer Insti-
• promoted David McKee to key and REC tute for Solar Energy Systems ISE opened
direct accounts manager in Europe. • is building a silicon material manufac- new PV module testing and certification
• expects to be able to supply enough turing facility in Bécancour, Quebec. center in Freiburg, Germany.
material for over 5GW in 2009. • sold out of wafers for 2010 after receiv- Vincotech appointed Dietmar Hilgers VP
Inductotherm Group entered solar market ing US $450 million order from Neo of operations.
with equipment designed for induction Solar Power. Wacker Chemie is investing EUR 760M to
melting of silicon, fluidized bed processes, Reliance Steel & Aluminum created build a new 10,000 metric tons/yr polysili-
directional solidification and single crystal Reliance Metalcenter to serve solar market con production plant in Germany.
growing. after US $2.6 mln acquisition of HLN
Japan’s National Institute of Materials Metal. semiconductors, ingots, wafers &
Science prototyped a solar cell using boron Rohm and Haas introduced its new line of components
nitride, which is transparent to visible EnlightTM PV materials. APSTL is developing its proprietary thin
light. Sanyo Electric is constructing a US $80 crystalline silicon on substrate technology
KIC released SunKIC PV thermal profiler. million/70 MW solar ingot and wafer to produce crystalline silicon wafers for low
Kollo spent US $9 M to set up solar cell production plant in Salem, Oregon, that is cost photovoltaic cells.
cutting equipment material subsidiary, scheduled to be operational in 2009. Jiangsu Zhongneng is investing USD 1.1
Kollo Special Grains. Sino-American Silicon spent US $44.7 billion to build a 2,700 MW silicon ingot
Lien Hwa Group and UMC formed a million to acquire 18% stake in Silfab. and wafer plant.
polycrystalline silicon JV through their Silfab is building a polysilicon manufactur- JinkoSolar raised US $35 million in Series
own subsidiaries. ing plant in Borgofranco d’Ivrea, Italy. B funding.
M+W Zander promoted Rick Whitney to SiOnyx gained exclusive ‘Black Silicon’ LDK Solar
CEO of U.S. operations. license from Harvard. • raised US $192.4 million from a
Manz Automation Solaicx hired former Applied Materials secondary offering of 4.8 million
16 – Global Solar Technology – November/December 2008 www.globalsolartechnology.com
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