Solar business from Korea

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...

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...