Manufacturing

U.S. production equipment Amtech has reported relatively flat revenues in Q4 fiscal 2015, however increased quoting activity and Y/Y sales increases point to a rebounding PV equipment market.

India dominated much of the news this week, with an eye-opening report that solar power in the country will cost less than coal by the end of the decade. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also made solar a major topic at last week’s G20 meeting in Turkey. Brazil, meanwhile, approved 1.5 GW of new solar and wind power.

German production equipment supplier Singulus is pursuing a debt-equity swap to tide the company over a difficult period in which its liquidity has been diminished due to weak sales to the optical disk industry. This is despite growth in its solar equipment booking and shipments.

Guodian subsidiary, GD Solar will retire 640 MW of crystalline and thin film solar PV capacity due to low utilization rates, high production costs and market expansion difficulties.

Tata Steel has unveiled ambitious plans to install a 22 MW solar PV rooftop system atop factory roofs in the Netherlands. When complete in 2018, it will be one of the biggest projects of its kind.

Chint Solar subsidiary Astronergy will continue supplying the EU market despite its parent company exiting the EU minimum import price (MIP), after the EU Commission found it to be in breach of the undertaking.

Chinese PV aspirant Tongwei’s 5 GW PV cell facilities may take several years to realize, analysts caution, while its downstream ambitions in China could see significant capacity realized. Fab fit out likely to lead to orders from Chinese and non-Chinese production equipment vendors alike.

Capital costs for lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are expected to come down by around 50% over the next five years, as a result of increased renewables generation, among other factors, finds Lazard in a new study looking at the levelised cost of storage (LCOS). Currently, energy storage is not cost-competitive with most applications, however. In a separate study, Lazard, analyzed LCOEs in the U.S. Utility-scale PV was found to be competitive against conventional energies, while rooftop solar still requires “significant” subsidization.

Hanwha’s takeover of Q Cells is bearing fruit, with Q3 recording significantly improved earnings results. In addition to a return to net profitability, Hanwha Q Cells Co. Ltd has raised its gross margin forecasts for Q4, and expects shipments to increase at least two-fold. Capacity expansions are on the cards for both this year and 2016.

China’s JinkoSolar continues to grow shipments in Q3, to 1.345 GW of modules, however its gross income on an annual basis has suffered, due to a number of factors including currency devaluation, stock based compensation expenses and income tax liabilities.