Saturday, April 11, 2009

Canadian Solar to provide 5 MW modules to Helio Micro Utility

BEIJING, Apr 09, 2009 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- ZZFNV | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- China-based vertically integrated solar product maker Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ.Nasdaq) announced that that it has entered into an sales agreement to supply Helio Micro Utility with five MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules.
The purchase agreement includes the full line of PV modules by Canadian Solar with power rating ranging from 0.03 Watt to 300 Watt.

Canadian Solar provides 25 years of performance warranty meeting international standards of quality and safety.

This sales agreement will speed up the sales initiatives of Canadian Solar in the United States this year, according to Shawn Qu, president and CEO of Canadian Solar.

Earlier, Canadian Solar said that it has been selected to supply 80,000 solar home systems for rural households in China's Sichuan Province with a total capacity of 1.6 MW.

China's Jiangsu to detail solar PV power subsidy policy

BEIJING, Apr 09, 2009 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- ZZFNV | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Jiangsu Province in East China is drawing up specific provisions for the implementation of national subsidy policy for solar photovoltaic (PV) projects, said Wei Qidong, secretary-general of Energy Research Association of Jiangsu Province.

This is seemed as an encouraging action to materialize China's newly issued subsidy policy on solar PV power projects, which provides 20 yuan for each watt-peak of installed solar PV power capacity.

The Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development jointly released China's version of solar roof program earlier.

The subsidy policy is aimed to build a number of demonstrative solar PV projects, mainly solar PV roof projects and PV curtains in large and midsize cities as well as off-grid solar PV power stations in rural and remote areas.

Still, industry insiders have expressed their concern on the available amount of subsidy each year given the lack of exact number of subsidy to be provided.

Wang Sicheng, an expert with solar PV industry, said that the government has to provide at least 10 billion yuan of subsidy for 500 MW of China-made solar products each year, accounting for 25 percent of national overall output in 2008.

It's hard to evaluate the impact of solar PV roof program on solar PV industry when the total subsidy amount number isn't available.

Wei said that solar product manufacturers are unlikely to enjoy subsidy on solar PV power projects and on solar PV electricity for the same time.

Overshadowing concerns on China's solar PV industry also include the sustainability of subsidy policy and possible over-crowded investment and speculation spurred by the subsidy policy.

Yangzhou Applies to Build 50MW Solar Stations

Yangzhou, Jiangsu province has applied to establish several demonstration solar stations with total production capacity of 50MW, reports yangzhou.gov.cn. The city has finished construction of the first 50KW phase of a separate 100KW station, said the report.

Q-Cells, LDK Solar Form Joint Venture

Ucilia Wang

April 8, 2009 at 12:06 PM

Q-Cells and LDK Solar said they are forming a joint venture to develop large-scale power plants to buyers in Europe and China.

LDK Solar has been supplying silicon wafers to Q-Cells, which turns those wafers into solar cells and sell them to panel makers. Q-Cells said the joint venture would enable both companies to work more closely together and offer better deals to customers. The joint venture, LQ Energy, would contract with panel makers to produce the panels for the power plant projects.

Both companies also figured that they could take advantage of each other’s marketing know-how in their home territories. LDK is based in China while Q-Cells is Germany. The companies said they have started their first, 40-megawatt project in Europe, and are shopping for a buyer.

Both companies have been hit by the economic downturn. Q-Cells has cut sales forecast for 2009 twice since December. LDK has delayed a factory expansion plan and has had to deal with customers who can’t pay as promised.

LDK’s shares on the New York Stock Exchange rose 4 percent in recent trading to reach $7.06 per share.

China PV plant set to open this year

[ 07 Apr 2009, Rob Cockerill, gasworld.com ]

Construction of China's largest photovoltaic (PV) power plant is scheduled to begin this year in Qinghai Province, an employee with one of the plant's investors is believed to have revealed recently.

According to a report by Semiconductor.net, the individual indicated that Qinghai New Energy Group Co. Ltd. plans to build a 30 megawatt (MW) solar array as the first phase of a 1 gigawatt (GW) project in the province's Qaidam Basin.

Qinghai New Energy Group and China Technology Development Group Corp. will reportedly invest approx. $146.20m in the first phase, which will be built with both thin-film solar cells and polysilicon solar cells.

Trina sees PV market to grow sharply

By Fu Chenghao | 2009-4-7 |

TRINA Solar Ltd, a leading solar product maker, expects China to account for 10 percent of the global photovoltaic market in three years to five years from less than 1 percent now as the government boosts support for the alternative energy.

"It's possible if we say, by 2012, China's installed solar PV capacity could reach 2.5 gigawatts while it would be 25GW for the world," Gao Jifan, Trina's chairman and CEO, said.

Although China is the world's top PV manufacturer, the domestic solar PV market has suffered from high costs and limited subsidies.

The Ministry of Finance said late last month that China would provide a subsidy of 20 yuan (US$2.93) per watt for solar projects that have a capacity of at least 50 kilowatts and attached to buildings, covering nearly half the cost.

Gao said the subsidy is a "precursor" of a long-term state support, although some analysts said the latest subsidy was limited to roof-top solar panels and not for large-scale solar projects.

New York-listed Trina, which is based in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, expects to sell 10 megawatts in China this year out of a planned total shipment of up to 400MW of solar modules, Gao said.

In 2008, the domestic market accounted for only a bit more than 1 percent of its shipment of 201MW.

The United States market could account for 15 percent of Trina's sales this year, up from less than 5 percent in 2008, thanks to the Obama administration's backing of renewable energy sources, he said.

Trina is not in a hurry to acquire assets but is looking at opportunities, according to Gao who said Europe would remain a top market.

Canadian Solar Wins a Bid to a Rural Electrification Project in China

TORONTO, April 6 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Canadian Solar Inc. ("the Company", "Canadian Solar" or "we") (Nasdaq: CSIQ) today announced that we were recently selected in a competitive bidding process to supply solar panels for 80,000 solar home systems for rural households in Sichuan province of China. The total order size is 1.6 MW. This project was initiated and financed by China's Ministry of Agriculture and the Sichuan Provincial Government. The solar home systems are rated for a peak capacity of 20 Watts each. A system of this size can power two lights and a small TV. The delivery of the 80,000 units will be completed by April.


Dr. Shawn Qu, President and CEO of Canadian Solar said, "We were very pleased to win this bid. A solar home system makes a real impact on the lives of these rural households. In many cases it will be the first electrical power source these rural families have ever had. We are very proud to be part of this project. Canadian Solar has a business division devoted to the designing, manufacturing and installing solar home and solar village systems for rural electrification and has been actively involved in rural electrification projects in China since 2004."

Suntech teams with Swinburne University for next-generation cell research

06 April 2009 | By Síle Mc Mahon

Great strides in solar cell efficiency are the name of the game as Suntech has teamed up with an Australian university to focus on the development of solar cells that boast twice the efficiency but half the cost of conventional cells. Joining research forces with Swinburne University of Technology of Melbourne, Suntech’s CEO Dr. Zhengrong Shi will lead the collaborative effort with the University’s Centre for Micro-Photonics Director, Professor Min Gu (below right).

"The project will be based around the development of nanoplasmonic solar cells," said Professor Gu. This new technology allows for the efficient collection of solar energy in a wider colour range than those currently being developed in other laboratories. "These will be twice as efficient as the current generation of cells, and will also cost significantly less to run."

The collaborative research group will be based in Swinburne's new Advanced Technology Centre, a nearly-completed $130 million dollar development. Tapping Suntech’s manufacturing experience and Swinburne’s years of research expertise, the project is expected to yield the next-generation cells within the next five years.

Dr. Shi said, "This relationship will combine Swinburne's high quality research with Suntech's ability to rapidly commercialize new technologies into cost effective applications. Nanoplasmonic technology has the potential to take solar to the next level."

Funding will come in the form of a $3 million dollar contribution to the venture from Swinburne University, with a further $3 million coming from Suntech throughout the lifecycle of the research, and a tender for further funding being presented to the Victorian Government.