Manufacturing

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JDSU, an Optical Giant, Enters the CPV Market

CPV going to where the sun is rather than where the subsidies are?

The concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) market has been long on promise and short on results.  But there have been a few hopeful signs of late.

Kleiner Perkins saw fit to invest $130 million into CPV systems vendor Amonix.  And shortly after that fund raise, Cogentrix announced a 30-megawatt project with Amonix.  That's easily the largest CPV project in the history of CPV.

SolFocus recently said that it would have 10 megawatts in the ground by the end… Read More ›

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Solexant’s CdTe Solar Ramping to 100MW

“Semiconducting nanoparticles” on a “scale never done before”

If you're a photovoltaic module startup that has received venture capital funding in the last few years -- it's time to start showing results.

The solar market is no longer the domain of scientists and hobbyists -- the industry will ship more than ten gigawatts this year.  It's about scaling big, scaling fast and driving down costs.  Suntech, Yingli, Trina Solar, First Solar, SunPower and others are all going to exceed one- or… Read More ›

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The Sunset of Solar Venture Capital

Solar game over, VCs. Move along. The days of opportunity are gone.  Find another greentech bubble.

I ran into a venture capitalist colleague coming out of Palo Alto's Whole Foods yesterday evening.  I mentioned a VC-funded solar startup CEO I had just interviewed, and this VC, let's call him Sanjay, just rolled his eyes and said, "Solar is done."

Sanjay pointed out, in-between bites of raw fawn hearts, the logic that now made solar investing, at least in solar panels, a lost cause for venture capital investors.  He explained, "Let's say your… Read More ›

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Global Solar Enters the CIGS Flexible Solar Module Business

The move into flexible modules is a direct challenge to ECD, SoloPower and Ascent.

Global Solar has been shipping flexible CIGS solar cells for years for applications in portable solar charging, as well as selling PV cells in strings for other vendors to assemble into modules.  Global Solar has also supplied CIGS cells to Dow's solar shingle endeavor.

But today the company is announcing that it is in the module business -- the flexible module business.

I spoke with Jeffrey S. Britt Ph.D., the company's CEO, and Jean-Noel… Read More ›

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Top Ten Greentech IPO Candidates

Here’s hoping that the next batch of Greentech IPOs look better than the current pageant.

(This is an excerpt from our larger recent review of the Greentech IPO Landscape: Past, Present and Future.)

These companies to follow actually have real products, serious revenue and the prospect of profits in high-growth markets. 

Here's a list of ten potential greentech IPOs coming in late 2010 through 2012:

Bloom Energy has a great story, revenue from the sales of its Bloom Boxes and marquee customers including Cypress, Google, FedEx and San… Read More ›

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Video: How AQT Says It Will Undercut the CIGS Competition

It’s a solar cell manufacturing machine cobbled together from hard-drive equipment.

Sunnyvale, Calif.--That whooshing, whirring machine in the video is how solar will one day compete directly against fossil fuels, according to AQT Solar.

The company, which makes copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar cells, has come up with a manufacturing process that the company says allows it to produce relatively high efficiency solar cells fairly cheaply. AQT's cells right now exhibit a 14-percent efficiency, which leads to CIGS solar… Read More ›

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Factory Roundup: TSMC Commits Millions to LEDs, Solar; Rivertop’s Green Detergent in 2011, and More

Taiwan’s big chip daddy plunks $318 million on LEDs, Solar; Factories start soon.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the big, relentless and hugely successful semiconductor manufacturer, committed $318 million for LED and solar manufacturing facilities today.

Roughly $100 million will go into LEDs and another $218 million will go into solar. Groundbreaking on the solar facility is slated for later this year.

We've followed the TSMC saga for a while. Last year, the company said it would move into solar and LEDs and… Read More ›

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Huge Milestone for SunPower and Solar in 250MW California Valley Project

The massive 250-megawatt California Valley Solar Ranch moves another step closer to reality.

A huge step has been taken towards building one of the globe's largest photovoltaic installations.

The Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the 250-megawatt California Valley Solar Ranch has been issued and is now in the public comment phase.  San Luis Obispo County issued their draft EIR, becoming one of the the first counties in the U.S. to prepare such a document for a large-scale solar facility.  In June, Los Angeles County published its… Read More ›

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VP Biden’s Recovery Act Report Cites GTM Research

According to the report, the enormous funding directed at energy is lowering the price of solar, batteries, electric vehicles and doubling renewable energy generation capacity.

The office of Vice President Joe Biden just released its report on the impacts of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).  Here's a link to a PDF of the 50-page report.

Please forgive our immodesty and allow us to guide you to page 20 of the report (page 22 of the PDF) where you will find Greentech Media (GTM) Research's Shyam Mehta and his solar manufacturing data cited (see chart below).

The only non-DOE or non-EIA cited data in the… Read More ›

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Poll: Is Solar a Product or a Process?

Is a good module or a good factory the key to success in solar? Please vote.

Last week I wrote an article looking at the ways the semiconductor industry and solar industry are similar and where they diverge.

At the heart of the issue is a debate over whether solar companies primarily compete by outdoing each other with distinctively designed products or whether success lay in developing a superior manufacturing process. In other words, do you win through product or process?

It's more than an academic debate. If solar… Read More ›

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Trina Solar’s Margin and Shipments Beat Guidance

Another Chinese solar earnings call with record shipments.  Gross margin and shipments exceed guidance; annual shipment target raised.

Trina Solar (TSL) announced its second quarter results this morning.

Trina (market cap of $1.56 billion) builds silicon-based solar products for commercial, residential, industrial, and electric utility applications. Customers include Conergy, Corporación Zigor, SKR Energie, and Schüco International.  The firm has a vertically integrated business model from the production of monocrystalline and multicrystalline silicon ingots, wafers and cells… Read More ›

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Applied Ventures Invests in Solar Imaging Firm BTi

Applied Materials’ venture arm invests in luminescence-based inspection and QC tools for PV manufacturing.

Sydney, Australia-based BT Imaging (BTi), just announced a $3.8 million A2 funding round from Applied Ventures, the VC arm of Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) along with investors Allen & Buckeridge and Uniseed.

BTi improves solar cell efficiency and manufacturing yields by applying luminescence imaging to the manufacturing and testing of silicon wafers and solar cells. 

BTi’s luminescence-imaging systems are used for research, product and… Read More ›

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Applied Materials: Goodbye a-Si PV, Hello c-Si Solar

Strong quarterly results muted by a-Si Sunfab’s $405 million charge. 

Applied Materials had a strong quarter and beat guidance and Wall Street expectations driven by semiconductor, display and crystalline silicon solar businesses.  

Results would have even been better if it weren't for the the Energy and Environmental Solutions (EES) group restructuring plan that resulted in charges totaling $405 million. The Energy and Environmental Solutions includes the amorphous silicon Sunfab line, as well as Applied's… Read More ›

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Yingli’s Second Quarter Results: Vertically Integrated Solar

Historical high gross margin of 33.5 percent

Yesterday, we heard pretty positive earnings results from Suntech.  Many Chinese photovoltaic suppliers have produced revenue upside largely due to volumes with modest margin upside and stable pricing outlooks for 2H10.

But today it was Yingli's turn and they had very good news. Yingli Green Energy Holding (NYSE:YGE) designs, manufactures and sells photovoltaic modules in China and internationally.  Yingli also designs, assembles, sells and… Read More ›

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Solaria and enXco in 5-Year Solar PV Supply Deal

Vindication for the low concentration photovoltaic technology as the Shugar express starts to roll.  Solaria picks up an equity investment as well.

I ran into a colleague yesterday morning who said to watch for big things from Solaria.  This must be what he was talking about.

EnXco, an EDF Energies Nouvelles Company, and Solaria just announced a five-year global supply agreement under which low concentration photovoltaic (LCPV) module manufacturer Solaria will supply their solar module to enXco.  EnXco made a small equity investment in Fremont, California-based Solaria, as well.  EDF… Read More ›

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Oerlikon and the Fate of Amorphous Silicon Solar Technology

In a-Si PV, Applied is out, Oerlikon Solar had losses of $57M, Trony’s IPO is withdrawn—leaving us with Sharp, Xunlight, ECD, et al.

Greentech Media and GTM Research have led the pack in questioning the viability of amorphous silicon in photovoltaic applications -- especially in chronicling the spectacular faceplant of Silicon Valley semiconductor giant, Applied Materials, their customers, and their a-Si photovoltaic efforts. 

We've been less dismissive concerning Oerlikon's efforts in a-Si because in our many conversations with Chris O’Brien, Oerlikon Solar’s head of market… Read More ›

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Suntech: Record Q2 Revenue, 2010 Shipments of 1.5 Gigawatts

Highest quarterly revenue in the company’s history

Suntech Power Holdings is now the largest solar panel manufacturer by revenue. Dr. Zhengrong Shi, Suntech's Chairman and CEO, led this morning's second quarter earnings call.  Here are the highlights:

• Suntech total net revenues for the second quarter of 2010 came in at $625.1 million. Net loss of $174.9 million mostly due to one-time impairments.
• Gross margin was expected to be in the range of 17.5 percent to 18.5 percent and came in at 18.2… Read More ›

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Why Solar Is, and Isn’t, Like the Chip Industry

Will there be an Intel of solar? Or a lot of Packard-Bells?

Santa Clara, Calif. -- What is the secret sauce behind Miasole, the maker of copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar modules?

The heart of the company's technology is a large, hexagonal manufacturing machine festooned with valves and rollers that looks like a cross between a particle accelerator and a prop from a science fiction movie. A miles-long metal foil sheet goes in one end, gets turned 90 degrees so that it's vertical, and, in… Read More ›

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More CPV Action: Greenvolts Scores $7.5M in VC

Concentrating photovoltaics still showing some life—even in a highly competitive PV market (now updated with picture of new GreenVolts design)

GreenVolts, a concentrating photovoltaics (CPV) startup, raised $7.5 million of an anticipated $11.3 million in funding, according to an SEC filing.  The firm has raised more than $50 million in venture capital and debt to date from Oak Investment Partners, Greenlight Energy Resources, et al.  Here's a link to the Form D filing with the SEC.

The Fremont, California-based company uses low-profile ground-mount equipment to focus sunlight on… Read More ›