SPVI’s solar weekly

REC of Norway has released its Q4 and full-year report, polysilicon is the only profitable segment of the business and Singapore facility remains outpaced by Chinese global solar companies

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REC of Norway has released its Q4 and full-year report. Company has shut down majority of wafer and cell operations in Norway, polysilicon FBR business is the only profitable segment of the business and Singapore facility remains outpaced by Chinese global solar companies. REC has left the year with $1B loss, over $1B in debt and $277M in cash. Current production costs for polysilicon are in are of $26 per kg with cash costs of $13. The Q4 module production cost is around $1.34 with plans to lower it to $.91 by end of 2012. In a quick view REC remains only competitive with polysilicon production, as Chinese companies can produce modules below $.80 with some having an objective to reach total cost of $.70 per watt. Chief Executive Officer Bjoern Wiggen, REC’s majority owner Orkla, told Bloomberg in January that company may postpone the sale of REC due to

REC Moses Plant , last profitable segment for the company Source: REC Group

market situation, but plans remain open for this year. REC ‘s one billion dollar debt is a heavy burden for a potential buyer. Nonetheless, polysilicon production offers an attractive and a novel opportunity for an integrated company. Orkla sold its stake in polysilicon company Elkem in 2011. Chinese company Bluestar bought it in a transaction worth $2B.

 https://solarpvinvestor.com/financials/2011-financial-statements/2011-earnings-europe

Taiwanese companies have released their invoice and revenue data for month of January. The revenue grew by 10% versus month of the December, but it is dramatically lower than data from January 2010. Companies like DelSolar, Solartech and Tainergy grew its numbers by triple digits. Neither Motech nor Gintech in cell manufacture or Green Energy Tech in wafer was able to beat December numbers.
https://solarpvinvestor.com/analysis/pv-investor-corner/taiwan-monthly-sales/taiwan-solar-invoice-and-sales-2012
Taiwanese cell plants were part of the expected pick up in production due to possible importation duty on Chinese cells and modules. In reality, if duties were applied modules would be imported, as few companies have capacities to build modules out of imported cells in US. Therefore, actual benefit may omit Taiwan cell makers. Companies which had triple pickup in January are coincidently module makers, perhaps suggesting that US installers are placing orders in Taiwan.

GCL Poly of China and NRG Solar had formed a new company called Sunora Energy Solutions to build selective projects in US market using GCL equipment and NRG racking technologies. GCL-Poly has provided 70MW of equipment to NRG in last quarter and part of this year. GCL is a wafer maker, which has a product contract with Tainergy of Taiwan for modules, built on GCL’s quasi mono wafer technology.  We suspect modules built by Tainergy are used in those projects.

HelioPower and Canadian have combined efforts to deliver solar energy solution to Giumarra Vineyard Corp. Canadian provided its 225P modules for the project. 

AUO Solar 9MW project in US Source:AUO Solar

Taiwanese company AUO had provided 9MW of modules for Pennsylvania School District. By using AUO's 37,500 high-efficiency 240W modules, the solar power plant is expected to be completed in September, 2012. The power plant will generate 10,880,000 kWh of electricity annually. AUO is planning to aggressively pursuit US market, claiming its compliance with current and potentially new rules.

German company Robert Bosch GmbH has stopped plans for building its solar manufacturing plant in Malaysia. Expected to spend 520M Euro on the project, Bosch cited technology reorientation for a cause of the decision. The plant was to have 640MW of capacity; in similar move in November 2011 First Solar has postponed its plans for factory in Vietnam.  

Despite of those decisions South Asia is busy with plans and growth of solar interests. Panasonic, Q-cells and Conergy have either plans for plants or business developments in Malaysia. Malaysia is targeting 3.1GW of energy to be produced by renewable sources by 2020. MEMC is building solar plants in Thailand; Japanese Sumikin Bussan Corp. has said to invest nearly $100 million for a solar plant in the region. Thailand, Malaysia has own feed in tariff plans, while Philippines contemplate one. Local companies are taking part in the industry growth as well. First Philec, a Filipino company, manufactures wafers for Nexolon and Sunpower and has 1.2GW capacity with future expansion plans with South Korean Nexolon.