Solar business from Korea

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...