Market conditions dim; brake lights ahead
American depositary shares. BP Solar terminated its US $100 mil- solar-cell inspection system.
• purchased polysilicon CVD reactors lion expansion plans in Houston due to • is investing 33 billion yen to expand
from GT Solar for installation in Xinyu growing global competition in solar panel No. 2 plant’s annual solar cell manu-
City, China. market. facturing capacity to 600,000kw by the
OPEL International obtained CE Quali- China Electronics Technology Group end of 2010.
fication (IEC 62108 standard) for its Mk-I started first phase of the 100 MW crystal- Norsk Hydro spent US $15 million to
HCPV solar panels in Europe. line silicon solar cell panel production line increase its ownership share in Ascent
Q-Cells opened a €50 million Reiner Lem- in Hunan, China. Solar to 35%.
oine Research Center in Germany. China Solar Photovoltaic appointed B U.S. Department of Energy’s National
REC’s Butte, Montana, facility boosted Veerraju Chaundary chief technology and Renewable Energy Laboratory set a world
silane gas production capacity to 11,300 operating officer. record in solar cell efficiency with a PV
tons/yr and reduced its polysilicon capacity DelSolar began construction of its new device with 40.8% efficiency.
to 4,000 tons/yr. 720 MWp, US $286 million factory in OptiSolar leased 60,300 sq.ft. building in
Sharp announced new technology that can Taiwan. Hayward, CA, for its headquarters.
reduce wafer production cost by 50%. Dyesol Photovoltech is increasing its PV cell
Solaicx named Steven Concklinr to supply • opened new manufacturing facilities production capacity at its plant in Tienen,
chain director. for Dye Solar Cell materials and tech- Belgium, to 260 MWp by end-2010.
Spire Semiconductor received $2.97 nologies in Queanbeyan, New South Q-Cells developed:
million from US government to redesign Wales. • solar-grade Si based cell with a conver-
compound semiconductor cells. • partnered with Italia, ERG Renew and sion efficiency of 16%.
Permasteelisa for development and • back-contact cell with up to 21% ef-
crystalline silicon cells, modules, production of next generation solar ficiency.
panels panels for buildings. • crystalline silicon on glass.
• By the end of 2009, PV module pro- Energy Conversion Devices is building a • a variable production line which can
duction capacity will exceed demand 265,000 sq ft, 120MW solar cell manufac- make different types of cells.
by as much as 3.8 GW (total installa- turing plant in Battle Creek, MI. REC is spending $420 million to build a
tions in 2007 were less than 3GW) and EPV SOLAR is building a 420 MW solar solar manufacturing complex in Singapore
module prices will decline by 36% by panel manufacturing facility in NeST Hi- with expected production capacity in 2012
2010.¬—Prometheus Institute Tek Park in Kochi, India. of 740 MW wafers, 550 MW cells and 590
• Taiwan’s annual production volume Evergreen Solar appointed William MW modules.
of solar cells is expected to reach 1,148 ‘Smitty’ Ovitt director of sales, Asia Pacific. Samsung Everland opened its USR $117.2
MW in 2008 generating production Fraunhofer Institute demonstrated multi- million/26,000 MW solar panel plant in
value of over NT $88 billion (US $2.89 junction III-V solar cell with 39.7% conver- Gimcheon, South Korea.
billion). —PIDA sion efficiency. Sanyo Electric is spending 700 million
• Indian Scientists achieved 4.7% con- Itochu acquired 43% stake in Greenvision yen to boost module output capacity from
version efficiency in ZnO dye-sensitized ambiente Photo-Solar. 20,000 KW/yr to 50,000 KW at its solar
solar cells fabricated by spray deposi- Kinsus Interconnect Technology acquired cell assembly plant in Mexico.
tion using hydrothermally synthesized 19.6% stake of Lucky Power for US $5.7 Schott Solar:
nanoparticles. million. called off its planned IPO due to the dete-
1366 Technologies broke ground on its Kyocera Solar is investing US $527 mln rioration in international capital market.
new silicon solar cell manufacturing facility to increase its solar cell output capacity to named Dr H. C. Eggert Voscherau to chair-
in Lexington, Massachusetts. 650,000kw by 2012. man of supervisory board.
3S Industries AG named Sylvère Leu LG Electronics acquired 75% stake in Solar EnerTech acquired two million
COO of 3S Group. Conergy’s solar module plant in Frankfurt. shares of common stock of 21-Century
Advent Solar hired Dick Trueblood as Mitsubishi Electric Silicon for $1 million cash.
CFO and Bernard Wilimitis as VP of • claimed world records with 180 µm Solar Infra is building a 100 MW PV mod-
manufacturing and operations. thick polycrystalline Si cell with 18.6% ule manufacturing plant in India which is
Algatec Solar purchased crystalline solar conversion efficiency and 100 µm scheduled to open late 2009.
module automation (stringer and layup) thick polycrystalline Si cell with 17.4%. Solon opened a 105,000 sq.ft., 100 MW
systems from Komax Holding. efficiency. solar module factory in Tucson, AR.
Asola • is spending US $91 million to expand SolarWorld
• established a 30 MW solar module annual PV production capacity to opened a 480,000 sq ft, 500 MW solar
production and distribution JV in 600MW by fiscal 2012 cell manufacturing facility in Hillsboro,
Southern Italy with Eurobox Impianti. • begun building second PV cell plant Oregon.
• formed a joint 30 MW solar module at its Nakatsugawa Works Iida factory is expanding its solar cell manufacturing
manufacturing facility with Majdaline in Japan. plant in Freiberg, Germany, to 200 MW
Holding in Casablanca, Morocco. Moser Baer sold 6.5% stake in PV unit to in 2009.
• Bosch global investors to fund crystalline silicon Space Energy invested 17 billion yen for
• increased its stake in Ersol Solar to cell manufacturing expansion to 180 MW a new 3,500 KW double-sided solar panel
91.7%. and amorphous silicon thin-film to 120 factory in Iwate Prefecture, Japan.
• established its Asia-Pacific regional MW. Suniva:
headquarters for research and ad- Neo Solar Power • developed silicon solar cells with over
vanced engineering in Singapore. • purchased a Chroma Ate model 3700
continued on page 27
www.globalsolartechnology.com Global Solar Technology – November/December 2008 – 17
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