Solar business from Korea

according to BusinessWeek Peru's government has signed contracts with companies that are expected to invest $1 billion in wind, solar and hydroelectric energy projects. President Alan Garcia oversaw the signing of contracts Monday with 26 companies that are to build three windmill parks, four solar power plants and 17 small hydroelectric plants. A government statement says the businesses have agreed to build the plants and start generating electricity "with the guarantee of prices that make their investments profitable." The contracts were signed by Juan Coronado of the company Energia Eolica, which represents the 26 companies. He says the clean energy projects will be finished in two years and will produce 412 megawatts

On March 29, 2010, Sharp Corporation started operations at its new thin-film solar cell plant in GREEN FRONT SAKAI, Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. This plant will produce thin-film solar cells using large-size glass substrates measuring 1,000 x 1,400  mm. Thin-film solar cells have a structure in which thin layers of silicon are accumulated onto a glass substrate, enabling a dramatic reduction in the amount of silicon used, to approximately one hundredth the amount used in crystalline solar cells. The production processes are simpler, thereby lowering production costs. For this reason, the demand for thin-film solar cells, especially for use in large scale photovoltaic power generation, has been steady from all over the world. The thin-film solar cell plant in Sakai will serve as a model plant for future Sharp thin-film solar cell plants around the world. Sharp will continue to accumulate and enhance its proprietary production technology and its know-how, to meet the world’...

GCL-Poly has announced 2009 financial results and detailed a major effort to diversify operations and move downstream into wafer and solar project development and GCL-Poly have complete new Polysilicon factory 15,000MT reached  total capacity 18,000MT/year  and will be expand 21,000MT by Dec. 2010    this is no 1 capacity of Polysilicon producers in China GCL-Poly expect wafer sales to contribute a majority of our revenues starting in 2010 who have started constructing in-house wafer and ingot manufacturing facilities and we target to ramp up wafer production capacity to 2 GW by end of 2010 with a production volume of 1.3 GW in 2010 Revenue from the sale of polysilicon and wafers amounted to RMB 2,537.1 million (US$371.6 million) and and RMB 262.3 million (US$38.4 million respectively) Results Highlights:  Revenue increased by 23.7% to RMB4,355.6 million in 2009 from RMB3,521.4 million in 2008  Results affected by exceptional expense items inc...

The UK feed-in tariff rates have now been finalized, offering its residents a financial incentive for producing renewable energy. The government has confirmed the proposed rate, which will begin to take effect from April 1, 2010. Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband announced the FiT levels and also published a blueprint for a similar scheme to be introduced in April 2011, which will offer incentives for low carbon heating technologies. "The guarantee of getting an income on top of saving on energy bills will be an incentive to householders and communities wanting to make the move to low carbon living. "The feed-in tariff will change the way householders and communities think about their future energy needs, making the payback for investment far shorter than in the past. "It will also change the outlook for a range of industries, in particular those in the business of producing and installing small scale low carbon technology," said Miliband. From 1 April...

The Clean Technology Fund (CTF) has given CSP development in the Middle East and North Africa regions a boost with the approval of financing of US$750 million, which will pave the way for an additional US$4.85 billion from other sources. The fund will provide investment in CSP programs for Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia, with a planned 900MW of installed CSP plants by 2020. CTF, a multi-donor trust fund, is an organisation that invests in deployment of low-carbon technologies. The investment will facilitate: Deployment of about 1GW of CSP generation capacity; The support of associated transmission infrastructure in the Maghreb and Mashreq regions for domestic supply and exports, scaling up CSP in the region; Encouragement of public and private investments for CSP power plants. The investment will enable the construction of 11 commercial-scale power plants over a 3-5 year timeframe. “This is a most strategic and significant initiative for MENA countries,” said Shamshad Ak...

A bullish projection from Solarbuzz points to the PV market growing 5% in 2009, reaching 6.37GW, which has been spurred by the significant increase in expected installations in Germany. The market research firm expects German installations to top 3.2GW in 2009, noting that the third quarter demand reached 980MW and is projected to rise to 1680MW in fourth quarter, resulting in an increase of 71.4%. "The continuation of uninterrupted PV market growth year on year hides huge changes in the distribution of country market demand in Europe. Policy adjustment in Spain removed 42% of the global PV market in the fourth quarter of 2008 and it took until the middle of 2009 for the powerful engine of the German market to replace that lost contribution, and to now exceed it," said Craig Stevens, President of Solarbuzz LLC. "This had the effect of massively realigning economics through the PV chain during the past year, while also setting enormous commercial challenges for companies ...

Despite the global recession and the particular impact this has had on the U.S. economy in 2009, GTM Research has forecasted record PV installations of 440MW this year, compared with 320MW in 2008. Significant growth is projected through 2012 with annual installed growth rates of 50%, reaching over 2GW of installations in 2012 alone. The market research firm expects ‘second-tier’ states will soon emerge to diversify the U.S. market out of California (50% of demand), leading to 50,000 new jobs and over US$6.1 billion in annual investments for the sector. “California will remain the largest PV market in the country, but downstream success is contingent on competing in the five to seven second-tier demand states that will emerge by 2012, each supporting over 40MW of annual demand,” noted Shayle Kann, Energy Analyst at GTM Research and co-author of the report. However, the market research firm warned that the complex mix of incentives and regulations that govern growth in these new state m...

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...

The arrival of the feed-in tariff (FiT) was a much-anticipated one, something that would boost the solar sector and give countries around the globe the incentive they needed to convert from conventional energy sources into the renewable sector. No one could have predicted the upheaval that could have been brought with this seemingly positive move. Spain The first and most prominent downfall came in the shape of Spain. It introduced its generous FiT rate of up to €0.44/kWh back in 2007 when the government expected a steady stream of investment. In response, there came a flood. The country was left accounting for more than 40% of the world's total solar installations in 2008. This huge uptake gave the powers-that-be no choice but to revise the FiT rate, causing Spain to became one of the principal causes of the downturn in the solar industry. Some might say that the evident success stories of other countries like Germany caused a trend to be set for others. Yet in their infancy, unre...

As the first Chinese thin-film manufacturer to produce tandem junction cells on a production line, ENN Solar Energy Co., Ltd. has passed another milestone with its receipt of certification from TÜV InterCert for its tandem junction silicon thin-film solar modules. This certification confirms that the modules comply with the IEC’s requirements, and effectively passes the modules for sale in European and U.S. markets. With this TÜV Certificate, ENN solar becomes the first manufacturer in Asia to receive the certification for ultra-large size tandem junction silicon thin-film modules. The half- and quarter-size modules also received the certification, which concludes that all of ENN’s module sizes are in compliance with the requirements of IEC 61464 and IEC 61730. The 5.7m 2 modules were produced on its 60MW Applied Materials ‘SunFab’ line, ramp-up of which took place in March 2009. EEN Solar has aggressive plans to ramp manufacturing capacity to 500MW by 2011.

Taiwan’s government reports that it has passed a bill on renewable energy that is expected to attract Taiwan $30 billion (US $937 million) worth of investment. Parliament approved the measure on 13 June 2009, which is aimed at adding between 6,500 and 10,000MW of installed energy from renewable to Taiwan’s current 2,287MW (5.8%) over the next 20 years. Before this bill passed, providers were obligated to sell electricity to state-run Taiwan Power at Taiwan $2 per kilowatt-hour, compared with the Taiwan $8 they recommended. The bill is part of the government’s plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 2000 levels by 2025.The government now plans to offer incentives and loosen regulations on renewable energy providers, in addition to creating a pricing mechanism for various sources of solar or wind energy. United Daily news estimates that the bill will induce over Taiwan $30 billion in investment in the first year and create more than 10,000 jobs. Needless to say, industry watchers wel...

Applied Materials has received International Electrotechnical Commission certification for both the single- and tandem-junction versions of the 5.7 m2 solar photovoltaic modules produced by its SunFab thin film line. Tests run by TÜV InterCert confirmed that the large-area amorphous-silicon panels meet IEC standards 61646 and 61730."Applied’s 5.7 m2 modules are four times bigger than anything we've ever tested," said Feridoon Sergizzarea, president/CEO of TÜV InterCert. "We made modifications to the laboratory and added equipment to enable us to test modules this large. Creating a PV product of this size that can pass all of the IEC tests while maintaining mechanical and electrical integrity is an impressive feat of engineering. "The quarter-sized 1.4 m2 modules produced on the SunFab TFPV line received IEC certification earlier this year. However, a full-size 5.7 m2 panel designed to maintain high power output while subjected to years of exposure to sunlight, ...