Markets & Policy

Norway-based REC has released its Q3 financial results. While still not in the black, the company is making positive progress, although it has halted production of ingots and blocks in Singapore. Management changes have also been announced.

A Pike Research report released today predicts that the Asia Pacific energy storage market will be worth $12 billion by 2022, with a capacity of 25 GW.

In a decision that will once again elevate Solyndra to headline news – this time, during the crucial days leading up to the U.S. presidential election on November 6 – U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath ruled on October 22 in favor of the thin film solar manufacturer’s bankruptcy exit plan.

Conergy AG has announced it will hold an extraordinary general meeting, having lost half of its share capital. The management board is not said to be planning new capital measures, however.

Signs are emerging that photovoltaics is finally taking the right course to overcapacity recovery. For the first time since the mid-2000s, says NPD Solarbuzz, the industry’s book-to-bill ratio is negative, thus indicating the cancellation of capacity expansion plans.

As the PV Asia Pacific expo and conference continues today in Singapore, attendees have heard how high electricity prices and the falling cost of photovoltaics have resulted in the city-state arriving at retail grid parity for solar.

First Solar has leased a portion of its Mesa manufacturing facility in Arizona out. Originally, the thin film photovoltaic company was scheduled to start manufacturing modules at the new facility in Q3 2012. There are currently no plans to begin operations, however.

Switzerland’s Oerlikon Group has received approval from the Chinese government to sell its solar business to Japan-based Tokyo Electron Ltd for an undisclosed sum.

The second Intersolar China tradeshow has been postponed, following the current difficult market conditions. The event is expected to resume in 2013, alongside its new partner, The China Renewable Energy Industry Association (CREIA).

A number of U.K. solar companies are seeking compensation from the government over its proposed photovoltaic feed-in tariff cuts, unveiled last October. A formal “Letter Before Claim” has been sent to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).