Solar industry news dominated the headlines this week.
California thin-film solar company MiaSole signed a long-term agreement to supply 600 MW of solar panels to German project developer juwi Solar. The exact terms of the agreement were not released, but MiaSole will ship 7.5-megawatts (MW) to Germany this year for use in ground-mounted and rooftop installations, followed by 50 MW in 2011. The remaining 542.5 MW will presumably be delivered in the following years, and may be used in Germany, or in the U.S., where juwi Solar is also active. The deal is a huge boost for MiaSole, which is one of a handful of U.S. startups are attempting to get a foothold in the market selling CIGS thin-film solar panels. But it’s a tough prospect, due to the dominance of FirstSolar (Nasdaq: FSLR), which makes cheaper thin-film modules using cadmium telluride. Also, crystalline solar manufacturers in China are pushing their per-watt costs down to levels that are competitive with the best that thin-film companies have to offer.
California based solar company Solaria also signed a significant supply agreement this week. Solaria makes concentrating photovoltaic solar panels–a type of panel that uses optics to increase the amount of sunlight hitting solar cells. Instead of using the technology to increase conversion efficiency–as most concentrating PV companies do–Solaria uses it as a cost-reduction strategy. By increasing the intensity of the sunlight, Solaria is able to use about half as much silicon in each solar panel. The design was especially impressive several years ago when the demand and costs for silicon were especially high. But some have questioned Solaria’s viability, now that silicon prices have leveled off. However, the company raised $45 million in venture funding in May, and now they have signed a five-year supply agreement with project developer enXco (EEN.PA). The scale of the agreement was not disclosed, but the companies said it includes a "firm order with significant options."
Matinee Energy, Inc. added another South Korean partner to its growing
partnership for utility-scale solar development in California. Matinee signed an agreement with K&Company Co., Ltd.
(K&C)(053590.KS) to construct a 40-MW power
plant at a cost of up to $200 million dollars. K&C is a mining company, that has begun venturing into the solar industry in recent years. They will join a group of engineering and supply partners from Korea and China, with which Matinee is working. Matinee also has a strategic partnership to develop $1 billion worth of solar plants with Korea’s Hyundai Heavy and LG Electronics (LGERF.PK). Last month they announced the first two projects to be built with Hyundai Heavy.
German solar developer Phoenix Solar AG (PS4.DE) established a U.S.
subsidiary and North American headquarters in Northern California. Phoenix Solar Systems Inc., will begin operations near San Francisco next month. The company develops, builds and operates
large-scale photovoltaic power plants. In the U.S. they intend to focus on projects on the east coast and in the Southwest. Phoenix solar has more than 300 employees worldwide working at subsidiaries in Spain, Italy, Greece, France, Singapore, Oman and Australia.
China’s Suntech Power Holdings (Nasdaq: SPWRA) signed a deal to
develop up to 100 megawatts (MW) of solar power projects in South
Africa, according to a Reuters report. The company, which only recently moved into project development, signed a
memorandum of understanding (MOU) during South African President Jacob
Zuma’s visit to China. It was one of numerous investment deals signed
between the two nations. Analysts expect the cost of the solar projects to range between $350 million and $400 million.
Two of China’s fastest growing solar manufacturers road a wave of high demand in 2Q10 to boost revenues and profits. Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) performed the best, more than doubling revenues to $370 million and beating Wall Street expectations with a profit of $38 million. At the same time, Yingli Green Energy Holding Company (NYSE: YGE) boosted revenues more than 80% to about $398 million, while earning $32 million. Both companies credited high European demand ahead of expected subsidy cuts next year. And both companies are in the process of ramping up production capacity to around 1 gigawatt (GW) in 2011.
And our non-solar story of the week concerns biofuel company KL Energy Corporation (KLEG.PK). The company signed a joint development agreement with Brazil’s Petrobras (NYSE: PZE). Petrobras is paying $11 million to adapt KL Energy’s demonstration facility in Upton, Wyoming to produce cellulosic ethanol using sugarcane bagasse as a feedstock. If the process works as well as KL Energy says it will, Petrobras will license it for use in sugarcane ethanol plants in Brazil. Petrobras is one of the world’s ten largest companies by market capitalization, and Brazil is the largest producer of ethanol from sugarcane, so this could be the deal of a lifetime for KL Energy.
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