Solar business from Korea

30 November 2009 | By Mark Osborne As the dominant state for solar module installations, California is the most competitive region for companies marketing their solar modules in the U.S. Until now, SunPower with its network of distributors and project knowhow has been the leading module supplier in the state but things are starting to shift rapidly, and SunPower is in danger of losing the number-one slot. However, SunPower is not alone in losing market share; a growing list of other name brands are set to see lower share of the market in ’09 compared to last year. Quarterly figures from the California Solar Initiative (CSI) and part of the Go Solar California campaign that is overseen by the California Public Utilities Commission and highlighted in a new report from Barclays Capital analyst Vishal Shah reveal the volatility in market share positions on a quarterly basis. The first chart shows that SunPower has been the most consistent retainer of market share throughout the year, yet w

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Sanyo announced that it has completed the third factory building (Building C) of the Nishikinohama factory in Kaizuka City, Osaka. Building C has an anticipated start date for the high-volume production of HIT solar cells for December 2010. The start date ultimately lies on the completion of the installation of production equipment and the necessary adjustments and tests for high-volume production. Building C will have the capability for an annual solar cell production of 135MW, enabling the Nishikinohama factory to increase its overall annual production capacity to 345MW – 1.6 times the current level. Additionally, the Shimane Sanyo factory, which already produces the HIT solar cells, will increase its annual product capacity to 220MW in April 2010. Together, the two factories will have a combined production capacity total of 565MW by the end of March 2011. For the company’s global market, Sanyo is planning to expand its module production volume based off the Japan-Europe-US trilatera

The economy is expected to grow 4.3 percent next year and the won-dollar rate will hover at around 1,100 won, the country's leading economic think tank said Thursday. The Samsung Economic Research Institute (SERI) predicted that the economy would mark 6-percent year-on-year growth in the first half of next year followed by a 2.9 percent increase in the second half. For the whole year, it will average 4.3 percent, 0.4 percentage points higher than the institute's earlier estimate in September. It is also higher than the government's outlook of 4 percent. SERI also raised its growth estimate for this year, to 0.2 percent from its previous forecast of a 0.8 percent contraction. ``The economy has been recovering quickly recently on the back of a recovery in the domestic market and of exports,'' the institute said. However, this will likely slow next year. ``As the global economic recovery slows, so will the country's exports and domestic consumption,'' the t

DuPont Apollo, a subsidiary of DuPont, has opened its silicon based thin-film PV module manufacturing facility. The 538,000-square-foot facility will have an annual capacity of up to 50MW with a thin-film-on-glass photovoltaic module production line. Full-scale commercial production is targeted for the first-quarter 2010. “The facility is unique because this is the first total solar energy solution provider in China. Under the ‘Shenzhen-Hong Kong Innovation Circle,’ we have combined our research and development capability with this state-of-the-art facility to support the continued growth of the photovoltaic market,” said Douglas W. Muzyka, president of DuPont Greater China.

NRG Energy, via its wholly owned subsidiary NRG Solar LLC has bought the yet to be completed solar power plant in Blythe, California, from First Solar. The 21MW project occupies approximately 200 acres of land and is expected to be completed by the end of the year and is claimed to be the first and largest utility-scale PV project in California. First Solar and NRG did not disclose financial terms, however, First Solar will provide operations and maintenance services at Blythe under a long-term contract with NRG. "First Solar is very pleased that the first of our utility-scale solar projects in California will be coming on line with a leading power producer like NRG," said Bruce Sohn, president of First Solar. "This clean, affordable, and sustainable energy will help California meet the goals of its Renewable Portfolio Standard." Electricity from the plant will be sold to Southern California Edison under a 20-year power purchase agreement. “Solar fields generate the

In reporting its third quarter financial results, LDK Solar noted that it had expanded solar wafer production capacity to 1.7GW and was currently operating at full capacity. Xiaofeng Peng, Chairman and CEO, noted that LDK had been awarded contracts totalling 2GW of solar installation projects across multiple provinces in China. As the company ramps its new module capacity it has also contracted with Best Solar for solar cell and module production. “In China, the momentum in the local solar industry has continued to be encouraging,” noted Peng. “We have been awarded initial contracts to develop PV power projects in buildings, plants and integration systems, totalling up to 2GW in various provinces. We will also co-operate with Best Solar on downstream PV projects, such as solar cell or module manufacturing, solar panel assembly or provision of certain solar utility services. LDK Solar also reported net sales for the third quarter of US$281.9 million, compared to US$228.3 million for the

Five of the leading Chinese crystalline-silicon solar cell and module manufacturers announced their quarterly financial results this week, and in a word, they were stellar, consistently beating market analysts’ estimates. Canadian Solar, China Sunergy, Solarfun, Suntech and Trina Solar all saw their shipments of photovoltaic cells and modules jump way up, in some cases even double, and as a result, sequential revenues also increased significantly. The companies see the growth trend continuing, into the fourth quarter and beyond, suggesting that 2010 will be a boom year—and pushing the Chinese group to continue or even accelerate their capacity expansion plans, as they increase the efficiencies and power of their products and bring down nonsilicon manufacturing costs. The most prodigious gainer in the quarter was Canadian Solar, followed by Trina Solar and Suntech. The not-very-Canadian company more than doubled its shipments, pushing past the century mark for the first time, and increa

With the start of actual construction of Hemlock Semiconductor’s new polysilicon plant, located in Clarksville, Tennessee, the largest polysilicon producer in the world has revealed both the initial production capacity of the plant as well as its future capacity capability. Initial cost of the plant was said to be US$1.2 billion and will employ approximately 500 workers when ramped. Hemlock has announced investments totalling more than US$4 billion for expanding polysilicon production over the last few years in a drive that is expected to keep the company in its leadership position. Hemlock had announced plans for the Clarksville plant earlier this year, yet had not disclosed the planned capacity targets. Perhaps this was due to the rapidly declining spot market (though Hemlock sells under long-term contracts), as significant capacity from both traditional polysilicon producers and a wave of new entrants brought capacity online. However, the new plant will have an initial capacity of g

SMA Solar Technology published its third-quarter results, which showed an increase in profit, to make this past nine-month period, January to September 2009, the company’s most successful quarter to date. The company’s sales and earnings forecast for the whole of 2009 has risen from €850 to €900 million and the EBIT margin has changed from 23% to 25%. More than half of the sales revenues for 2009 were produced in this quarter alone. This third quarter showed an increase in sales from €226.7 million to €312.4 million. Sales revenues in the first nine months increased around 8% to €559.5 million from last year’s €519.3 million. The inverter outputs sold went from 0.2GW in Q1 to 1.2GW in Q3, and SMA was able to lower the inverter price to 0.25 Euros per watt in this quarter as well. SMA’s global sales summed up to €215.7 million, which the company lends to strong foreign markets in the Benelux countries, North America, France, Italy and Australia. Domestic demand did show the global num

According to the latest findings of IMS Research, more than 2.5GW of PV inverters were shipped in the third quarter of 2009, double the previous quarter and a new record level of shipments. Germany was the main destination with 1.2GW of inverters shipped to the country in the quarter, almost twice the amount that was shipped in the first half of the year. “The third quarter of 2009 has been incredibly strong for the PV inverter market and we expect this to continue until the end of the year,” commented Sam Wilkinson, one of IMS Research’s PV research analysts. “The rapid module price declines in the first half of the year, coupled with better financing conditions has led to a surge of investors returning to PV, desperate to get systems connected in Germany before the feed-in tariff reduction on Dec 31.” Prices of PV inverters have fallen around 10%, according to IMS Research , compared to a year ago, considerably less than module prices, which could end the year between 25 and 35% down

Morocco is going to be the next country to undertake an ambitious solar project. Theirs is slated to be worth $9 billion and is anticipated to produce 38% of the country’s installed power generation by 2020. According to Reuters.com, Energy Minister Amina Benkhadra announced that the project will have five solar power generation sites throughout Morocco and will produce 2,000MW of electricity by 2020. At the ceremony to introduce the project to the public, Benkhadra was joined by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Moroccan king. Benkhadra noted that the funding for said project would be a combination of private and state capital. "This is a bold but realistic project. We will guarantee all the technical and financial resources to make it succeed," Benkhadra said, "We look for the most sophisticated technology available in the world to use for this project.” Because Morocco is the only North African country that does not produce its own oil, it is enthusiastic

China has chosen 294 solar power projects, which will produce a total generation capacity of 642MW, for its first pilot program wherein it will subsidize at least half of the investment cost. Reuturs.com reports that the expected total cost will be around 20 billion Yuan and should be in production within the next two to three years as stated by the Chinese Ministry of Finance. 232 of the projects will have a 290MW capacity and be constructed by industrial and commercial firms with the output consumed by them. 27 PV projects, with a capacity of 46MW, are to be built in regions that currently have no power supply and will be able to generate enough power for 300,000 residents in the regions. The final 35 projects will total 306MW and will be utility-scale plants with the power output being fed into grid networks. The Ministry said it would subsidize 50% of the investment for the solar projects as well as relevant power transmission and distribution systems that connect the grid networks

Market research firm, iSuppli Corp has revised its growth forecast for the PV industry for 2009, due to the strong level of installations in Germany since mid-year as the rapidly declining module prices proved too alluring. As PV-Tech noted in a recent blog, the German market is hot right now and many research firms, including iSuppli could find themselves with forecasts well below actual installation levels, unless they made upward revisions. The market research firm now expects PV installations to reach 2.5GW in Germany, inline with GTM Research and EPIA, but lower than Photon Consulting’s projection of 3.9GW. Its previous forecast from Senior Director of Photovoltaics Research, Dr Henning Wicht was 1.53GW of installations in Germany. “Solar-panel installations in Germany began surging to record levels in July as prices for PV systems plunged,” said Wicht. “This phenomenon has boosted the global solar panel business and mitigated the severe oversupply situation that has stung the ind

LG Bets Display Future on Paju Cluster LG Display, the world’s second-largest flat-panel maker, runs two manufacturing factories in its liquid-crystal display (LCD) cluster in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, including an eighth-generation (8G) line, which was the result of a 9-trillion-won investment. / Korea Times By Kim Yoo-chul Staff Reporter PAJU, Gyeonggi Province - South Korean conglomerate LG Group relies on consumer electronics products and high-tech components as its bread and butter. And the group's liquid-crystal display (LCD) manufacturing cluster here is now emerging as the heart of its future business strategies. LG plans to invest around 8 trillion won (about $6.9 billion) through 2018 in its Paju complex, which is providing the manufacturing engine for affiliates LG Display, LG Chem and LG Innotek. LG Display, the world's second-largest flat-panel maker, is using its Paju factories to produce LCD panels for televisions, mobile phones and other devices. LG Chem, the cou

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Continued overcapacity in the upstream supply chain that includes polysilicon, solar wafers and solar cells is resulting in continued price declines and uncertainty over 2010 market demand. As a result Q-Cells is planning to hold c-Si cell production at approximately 800MW in 2009 and grow nameplate capacity to 1.1GW in 2010, on provisional market expectations for next year. However, its CIGS thin film subsidiary is expected to increase nameplate capacity to 135MW and actually ship close to 100MW in 2010, signalling the maturity of the product and potential market penetration of the technology. Solibro was said to have shipped its first products to customers in the quarter. Q-Cells executive Anton Milner highlighted in a conference call to discuss third quarter results that Solibro was expected to generate a cost per watt of €0.80 cents by the end of 2010 with capacity of 135MW. This was expected to decrease to €0.70 cents by the end of 2011. Process optimization, yield enhancements an

iSuppli's latest projection states that thin-film technology will significantly take over from the established crystalline technology, more than doubling in market share by 2013. The value chain research and advisory services company claims that by this time, thin-film will account for 31% of the market, up from 14% in 2008. "The market viability of thin-film has been solidly established by First Solar as it rockets to become the world's top solar panel maker this year, with more than a gigawatt of production," said Greg Sheppard, chief research officer for iSuppli. "At the same time, the company has driven its cost of production to less than 90 cents per watt, keeping its costs at approximately half the level of crystalline module producers." For years now, the battle for market share has been driven by efficiency, as although crystalline cells are more expensive, they are far more efficient than thin-film. This meant that for the same amount of efficiency,

POSCO, who is the largest steel maker in Korea, announcement Tuesday it has completed construction of a new plant in the U.S. to produce pipes for oil transportation in a joint project with a U.S. company and another Korean maker. The $135 million plant in Pittsburgh will be operated by United Spiral Pipe (USP), a joint venture of POSCO, U.S. Steel Corp. and SeAH Steel Corp., and will produce 270,000 tons of high-quality pipes annually, the company said in a statement. The pipe factory was built next to the USS-POSCO Industries steel plant, another joint venture between POSCO the U.S. steel titan. U.S. Steel and POSCO each own 35 percent of USP, with SeAH owning the remaining 30 percent. For its production of pipes with diameters ranging from 24 to 64 inches, U.S. Steel and POSCO will each provide 50 percent of the steel for the factory, while SeAH will supply its expertise in making spiral welded pipes, POSCO said. POSCO and its partner companies said at a launching ceremony that the

LG Display, the world's second-largest flat-screen maker, inked a contract to build an eight-generation liquid crystal display (LCD) plant in Guangzhou, China, company officials said Tuesday. The company will invest $4 billion in its new manufacturing plant, which will begin operations in 2012 and eventually acquire an annual capacity of 120,000 LCD substrates. To establish the factory, LG Display agreed to establish a $1.3-billion joint venture with the city of Guangzhou. LG Display will own 70 percent of the new company, while Guangzhou city and a yet-to-be-determined Chinese television maker will share the remaining 30-percent stake. The company hopes that the upcoming LCD plant will put it in a better position to exploit the rapidly expanding Chinese television market. The market for LCD televisions in China will grow to 40.8 million units in 2012 from 25 million units this year, edging the size of the North American and European markets during the span, according to market res

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Major business partners Q-Cells and LDK Solar have fallen out over a significant solar wafer supply deal, which could see Q-Cells claim back US$244.5 million from LDK Solar for missing wafer and polysilicon supply obligations under a contract signed in late 2007. Q-Cells said in a statement that disagreements over the contract supply conditions led to arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris, yet no amicable settlement has so far been reached. The 20 07 Take or Pay supply contract would see L DK Solar deliver more than 6GW of multicrystalline solar wafers to Q-Cells over a ten-year period commencing in 2009 through 2018. Q-Cells said that this equated to 43,000 tonnes of silicon over the contract peri od and specifically for 2009, equated to approximately 1,000 tonnes of silicon. As was typical in 2007 with polysilicon shortages, an advanced payment was made to secure the capacity. Q-Cells noted that it made a US$244.5 million advance to LDK Solar in the beg

STX Solar Ends Solar Cell Plant Construction STX Solar Co., Ltd.’s newly constructed solar cell manufacturing plant entered the production. STX held an opening ceremony for a new solar cell plant at its Gumi headquarter on November 2 with Kang Duk-soo, Chairman of STX Group, Kim Kwan-yong, Governor of Gyeongbuk Province, Lee Hee-beom, Chairman of STX Energy, Kim Young Hak, Vice Minister for Trade and Energy and Yoo-chin Nam, Mayor of Gumi City in attendance. STX Solar’s new plant will enter single crystal solar cells manufacturing. Partnership with Sharp, Japan based No.1 solar cell manufacturer, which transferred production technology and manufacturing facility to STX Solar, helped the company to establish stable manufacturing system only within first month of trial operation. STX Solar began construction in September last year on 58,000㎡ site and completed construction of solar cell plant equipped with a 50MW class solar cell production system in August this year. With module install