Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Oerlikon Solar has secured an order for its KAI equipment from Chinese photoelectric glass manufacturer Dong Xu Ltd. It is unknown how much the order is worth, or the amount of equipment sold.

Canadian Solar has entered into a sales contract with S.A.G. Solarstrom AG. It has also supplied PV modules to SolarLAB2.

GCL-Poly Energy Holdings is to invest approximately HK$17.7 billion (around USD$2.27 billion; €1.66 billion) in the expansion of its polysilicon and wafer production facilities in China.

Power-One, Inc. has opened its first North American inverter manufacturing facility in Phoenix, Arizona. Initial capacity will be one gigawatt (GW).

Under a new agreement, Suntech Power Holdings will supply around USD$80 million worth of solar power systems to Peak International Trade (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. The United Nations will then deploy them.

SoloPower has received a conditional commitment from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Programs Office for a USD$197 million loan guarantee.

HyperSolar, Inc. has completed a prototype design of its thin solar concentrator. The company’s aim is to reduce the number of solar cells in a panel by 75 percent.

Samsung Fine Chemicals (SFC) and MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. are to establish a polysilicon facility in Korea under a new joint venture (JV).

Solar Junction has achieved 41.4 percent cell efficiency on a concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) multi-junction production cell. The results have been confirmed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

According to research, a decrease in demand for new PV installations in the first quarter of the year is expected to cause a “surge” in company inventories.