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EU Biodiesel Industry Accuses U.S. of Unfairly Exporting Brazilian, Malaysian Biofuels

As global trade of biofuels heats up, European biodiesel producers this week charged that they have uncovered an “unfair” loophole for biodiesel sourced from Brazil and Malaysia to enter the EU: shipment via the U.S. where the biofuel qualifies for a hefty U.S. subsidy. On Monday, the European Biodiesel Board (EBB) – which represents 80% of the region’s producers – sent a letter to the European Commissioner for Trade alleging that unfair trade practices are dominating the first international exchanges of biodiesel. “More specifically EBB is very concerned with unfair competition from highly subsidised biodiesel exports from the U.S. entering the EU market as ‘B99’ blends.” The US trade practice in fact is clearly breaching WTO rules and represents a serious threat to the fair trade of biofuels.” Since 2004, U.S. biodiesel producers have been eligible for a subsidy of $1 per gallon for biodiesel blended with diesel fuel. Third countries such as Brazil and Malaysia are shipping biodiesel to U.S. harbors to be blended with 1% diesel, and then shipping it out afterwards to the EU, said EBB. “In this frame the EU biodiesel industry urges the European Commission to take any action necessary to counter and then eliminate […]

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Spire, KUKA to Provide Large-Scale Robotic PV Manufacturing Lines

Spire Corporation (Nasdaq: SPIR) has entered into a joint venture with KUKA Schweissanlagen GmbH, of Germany, to combine its machine technology to address the growing demand for fully automated large-scale photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing lines. The Agreement should accelerate the integration of KUKA’s automation expertise with Spire’s expertise in module manufacturing equipment to produce fully automated, high throughput facilities for the expanding PV industry. They are currently developing a 100 MW manufacturing line. Spire reported a 10% decrease in revenues for 2006 – $20.13 million down from $22.42 million for 2005. Net loss for 2006 was $8,151,000, or $1.03 per share, compared with net income of $44,000, or $0.01 per share, for 2005. Spire’s revenues for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2006 were $5.06 million, a decrease of 21% from $6.41 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. Net loss for the quarter was $2,126,000, or $0.26 per share, compared to a net loss of $1,645,000 or $0.23 per share for the fourth quarter of 2005. At year end, Spire had $4.6 million in unrestricted cash and short-term investments. Roger G. Little, Chairman and CEO, said, “The 2006 revenue decline was principally due to Spire Solar selling less solar manufacturing […]

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PowerLight to Build 4.8 MW PV Plant in Spain

PowerLight, a leading global provider of large scale solar power systems and a subsidiary of SunPower Corporation (Nasdaq: SPWR), announced that its Swiss subsidiary, PowerLight Systems S.A., has entered into an agreement with Agrupacion Solar Llerena-Badajoz 1, A.I.E. and Solarpack Corporacion Tecnologica, S.L., to design and build a solar electric power plant in Llerena, Spain. The plant is expected to generate approximately 4.8 megawatts of peak power. The project will cover an area of approximately 19 hectares, and will employ proprietary solar tracking technology developed by PowerLight, which increases annual energy production by up to 22% compared with fixed-tilt systems. Construction is expected to be complete by the end of this year. Solarpack is the project developer.

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JA Solar, Canadian Solar Sign Solar Cell Supply Agreement

JA Solar and Canadian Solar have signed a supply agreement under which JA solar will supply solar cells to Canadian Solar for use in its modules. The Agreement, which will start immediately, is valued at US$50-$60 million, and runs from April to December 2007. Dr. Shawn Qu, CSI Chairman and CEO said, “JA Solar is an important strategic supplier to CSI. Securing this additional solar cell supply at a cost meeting our internal target will allow us to fulfill the increased demands from our key customers. CSI continues to ramp up its in-house solar cell manufacturing while maintaining long-term strategic purchasing from a couple of selected supply partners.”

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AquaCell to Acquire Solar Air Conditioner Co.

AquaCell Technologies, Inc. (Other OTC:AQUA.PK) has signed a Letter of Intent to acquire GPM, Inc., manufacturer and patent owner of the world’s only stand-alone solar powered air conditioner, marketed under the name SolCool(TM). The SolCool air conditioner uses less than 25% of the power of traditional air conditioners of the same size and can be run with only two photovoltaic panels, freeing the user from the electric utility grid. The current SolCool air conditioner, which is the fourth generation, provides 1.5 tons/18,000 BTUs of cooling from solar and is eligible for state and federal energy rebates. It is the only climate control equipment in the world that uses direct, renewable DC input to power its internal 24-volt operating system. Previous versions of have been purchased by the US military, corporations and international real estate developers. Roger Pruitt, inventor of the SolCool air conditioner and President of GPM said, “The move from prototype model to an affordable assembly-line product has been a huge step for us in our development. The pace at which the market for our product has grown over even the past few weeks has far outstripped the capacity of our privately held company to effectively meet this demand.” […]

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Beacon Power Announces Q4, 2006 Financial Results

Beacon Power Corp. (NASDAQ: BCON) announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2006. For 2006, the company reported higher losses – $12.3 million, or ($0.21) per share, compared with $9.3 million, or ($0.20) per share for 2005. Beacon says the increased loss is primarily attributable to a non-cash charge of $2.3 million for stock compensation expense recorded upon the adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 123R (SFAS 123R) during 2006. They also increased spending on research and development of its Smart Energy 25 flywheel. Still, net cash used in operating activities was lower year over year, from $8.9 million in 2005 to $8.4 million in 2006. For the fourth quarter, the net loss was $2.9 million, or ($0.04) per share, compared to $3.2 million, or ($0.07) per share for the previous year. This was due to nonrecurring expenses of $1.3 million relating to a proposed acquisition that was terminated, partially offset by increases in stock compensation expense and research and development spending in 2006. At the end of 2006, Beacon had $5.3 million in cash and cash equivalents, with working capital of $3.3 million. On February 15, 2007, the Company raised […]

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