Applied Materials loses top spot in solar equipment market

USA: Despite huge investments over the past several years in new solar technology, Applied Materials (AMAT) lost its lead in the solar equipment market, dropping 78.6 percent year-on-year.

Applied moved into the top spot back in 2008 with the success of its ill-fated amorphous/microcrystalline silicon turnkey business called SunFab. Subsequently Applied announced in mid-2010 it would discontinue sales to new customers of its fully-integrated SunFab lines.

Applied's first customer, pulled plans to build a factory in New Mexico in April 2010, while another early customer, SunFilm, filed for bankruptcy protection, also in April 2010. Signet filed for insolvency in June 2010. Spanish solar panel maker T-Solar has filed for insolvency in March 2013.

Applied purchased HCT Shaping Systems SA of Switzerland in 2007 for $475 million and Baccini, manufacturer of screen printers for $330 million also in 2007. Applied purchased Varian Semiconductor for $4.7 billion in November 2011.

Applied created a market for amorphous solar cells at a time when there was a severe shortage of silicon causing prices to skyrocket. SunFab (or Applied's competitor Oerlikon) was the only way for a solar cell manufacturer to enter the market. Unfortunately, efficiencies obtained of less than 10 percent were not competitive compared to polycrystalline silicon or CdTe thin film competitor First Solar (FSLR).

Meyer Burger moved up into the first position in rankings dropping 51% in dollar values. Meyer Burger offers a complete line of product equipment and services along the photovoltaic value chain that includes the manufacturing processes for wafers, solar cells, solar modules and solar systems.

In July 2012, Centrotherm Photovoltaics AG announced that it submitted an application to file for self-administrative insolvency. Revenues listed in the above table are for Q1 2012 only and any financial information for the whole of 2012 is not being released by the company.

According to a note to shareholders of Meyer Burger, "2012 was an extremely difficult year for the whole photovoltaic industry. The sharp consolidation process that had already started in the second half of 2011 continued unabated throughout 2012, mainly as a result of over capacity at solar cell and module manufacturers and steeply falling prices for cells and modules. Cell and module manufacturers were therefore very reluctant to invest in new production equipment."

In 2012, an estimated 30 GW of new photovoltaic (PV) capacity was installed at private and commercial end users, increasing the total globally to over 100 GW (source: EPIA Market Report 2012, February 2013)., as shown below:

Despite this solid demand for end installed capacity, enormous overcapacity produced by solar cell and solar module manufacturers in past years still remained. This overcapacity, although decreasing, combined with the significant decrease in the price of solar modules and the enormous pressure on margins at cell and module manufacturers has increased consolidation in the industry as a whole and even led to some manufacturers having to cease operations entirely.

Survival tactics of solar cell manufacturers will be a bright spot for equipment manufacturers. China Sunergy CEO, Stephen Cai presented four key strategic business developments, which need to occur, if companies are to weather the solar storm: (i) higher efficiencies; (ii) downstream investment; (iii) global operation; and (iv) diversified channels.

The first item, higher efficiencies, is critical for equipment manufacturers. As new solar cell designs are implemented or new processes designed to increase efficiency, new or additional equipment is needed. Applied's $4.7 billion purchase of VSEA was because of its Solion Blue technology, designed to produce high-efficiency P-type mono-crystalline solar cells utilizing the proprietary patterned implant technology of Varian's Solion ion implant platform. The technology is being used by Suniva in Norcross, GA. Suniva however, is a small company with a module capacity of only 170MW in the US.

Solion is a disruptive process, meaning that a solar manufacturer will need to change its production line from a diffusion process for doping to an implant process.

However, Applied Materials passed on an opportunity to invest in privately held SolarPA (New Tripoli, PA), which has developed a proprietary nanocrystal coating that increases the efficiency of solar cells by more than 1 percent at a cost of goods to $0.20 per panel, or less than 0.1 cent per watt. The coating is applied on a completed cell with no disruption to the cell manufacturing process and can be applied using a screen printer. In other words, Applied Materials could have sold more screen printers to customers who would use this technology. It could have even been used in conjunction with its Solion ion implant technology.

Maxwell, Soitec join forces to demo benefits of integrating energy storage with CPV technology

USA: Maxwell Technologies Inc. and Soitec will collaborate on a California Energy Commission-funded, two-phase program to demonstrate the cost and efficiency benefits of combining an energy storage system with Soitec's Concentrix CPV technology.

Maxwell has been awarded a $1.39 million contract by the California Energy Commission's Research and Development program to fund design and integration of an ultracapacitor-based energy storage system with Soitec's CPV system located on the campus of University of California, San Diego—one of the nation's greenest universities— and a second commercial scale system at Soitec's solar power plant in Southern California.

The integrated systems will also take advantage of other technology advances, including solar forecasting and predictive energy control, to maximize the benefit of incorporating ultracapacitor energy storage.

The project starts in June 2013 and will run through November 2015. Independent evaluation of the performance of the integrated systems will be performed by DNV KEMA under a sub-contract with Maxwell.

Fortum launches solar power production in India by acquiring a 5-MW photo-voltaic solar power plant

FINLAND: Fortum has acquired a solar power plant in the state of Rajasthan, north-western India. The company's short term ambition is to build a small photo-voltaic (PV) solar portfolio in order to gain experiences in different solar technologies and operating in the Indian power market.

"Solar power fits well with Fortum's other CO2-free production and we believe it will play an important role in tomorrow's low carbon energy system," says Matti Kaarnakari, MD, Fortum India Pvt Ltd. "Solar power is a strong growth segment that will account for an increasing part of power generation in the future. Fast technological development is boosting competitiveness and on best markets, wholesale parity can be expected already within a few years' time."

The power plant's nominal peak capacity is 5.4 megawatts and its annual production is approximately 9 gigawatt-hours. The power plant was constructed as part of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), the Indian government's initiative for 22 gigawatts of installed solar power generation capacity by year 2022, and it has been fully operational for one year. The plant will receive a higher, guaranteed electricity price for 25 years. The period and the prices for power generation under the government's power purchase agreement (PPA) are defined to ensure a sufficient return on investment.

"India is one of the most interesting countries for solar power development. Apart from the naturally favourable geographic location, India has ambitious plans for solar power on both national and state levels," Kaarnakari continues.

In the short term, Fortum is looking to invest some tens of millions of euros - including this acquisition - in developing its PV solar competence and operations in India.

P2 Solar acquires second renewable energy project in India

CANADA: P2 Solar Inc. has acquired its second significant renewable energy project for development in India.

The project is a 500 KW mini-hydro facility located immediately downstream from P2's previously announced Project Rajgarh, near Ludhiana, Punjab, India, on the Sidhwan irrigation canal, and is named Project Tibba.

Project Tibba was acquired through P2's wholly owned Indian subsidiary, Jagat Energy Private Limited. Both Project Tibba and Project Rajgarh are owned outright by us, fully permitted and ready for construction. The company considers these projects as a series and both sites are being assessed for the possibility of incorporating solar PV arrays of several megawatts atop the canal space. Construction of Project Tibba will be co-ordinated with that for Project Rajgarh, the latter of which is scheduled for groundbreaking this summer.

Combined, these two mini-hydro facilities are expected to generate approximately $800,000 in annual revenues. Project Tibba's capital budget is $1.6 million, but with low operating costs EBITDA is estimated to be 95 percent.

As P2 indicated prior, the Punjab government is keen to harness the significant mini-hydro potential of its canals, which amounts to several hundred MWs, as well as to utilize the free space above its canals for expanding solar PV capacity.

Energy efficient HVAC systems will surpass $33 billion in annual revenue by 2020

USA: Energy consumption by heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems accounts for roughly 40 percent of total building energy consumption, and in turn, buildings account for 35 percent to 40 percent of total worldwide energy consumption.

Thus, HVAC energy consumption in commercial buildings is a key contributor to total global energy consumption. Driven by tightening energy efficiency regulations and by demand for higher-efficiency buildings, the technology for efficient HVAC systems is advancing.

According to a new report from Navigant Research, annual revenue from energy efficient HVAC systems will grow from $17.2 billion in 2013 to $33.2 billion by 2020.

“In the wake of the global recession of 2009, developed markets for efficient HVAC – especially in North America and Europe – remain sluggish,” says Bob Gohn, senior research director with Navigant Research. “However, the North American market will revive during 2013 and begin to experience more substantial growth during 2014. Europe will follow a similar trend, but recovery will likely not occur until mid to late 2014. The strongest region for energy efficient HVAC expansion, however, will be Asia Pacific, which will account for 55 percent of the world market by 2020.”

The global HVAC market, according to the report, is led by large suppliers, such as UTC (Carrier), Hitachi, Ingersoll-Rand (Trane), Daikin, and LG Electronics, many of which also produce various other products, technologies, and services.

HVAC-only manufacturers are largely limited to smaller and midsize brands such as Lennox and Uponor. Some larger suppliers, such as Johnson Controls, also provide integrated engineering and operations/ maintenance services, overlapping in part with services more traditionally provided by energy service companies.

Two thirds of the biomass, solar and wind companies do not have a communication strategy

GERMANY: Only one in three enterprises in the renewable energy industry have a dedicated communication strategy. Particularly those responsible for PR in firms without a properly defined communication strategy criticise the lack of an overall plan, and the lack of internal and financial support for communication activities.

While 74 percent of those responsible for corporate communication consider press and public relations work important, only a few of the enterprises surveyed provide a significant budget for PR activities. Despite turnovers running into millions, half of the companies questioned invest less than 10,000 euros a year in such activities.

These are the initial results of the ongoing study “Communication in Biomass, Solar and Wind Firms“ being carried out by Krampitz Communications. The agency, which has specialised in renewable energy and technology topics since 2004, is presenting the preliminary results and trends shown by the study at Intersolar Europe on 20 June 2013, 11:00 am.

Measuring results of PR work
“Only those who proceed strategically, with clearly defined goals and target groups, and who develop messages based on their special strengths will have any success with their communication activities”, says agency proprietor Iris Krampitz.

“With this study, we want to substantiate what we have learned in nine years press work in the renewable energy sector, sensitise the industry for strategic press and public relations work, and find out how strategic the communication work done by biomass, solar and wind firms is today.” The Cologne based agency is also examining the extent to which the messages reach their intended target audiences.

Since April 2013 Krampitz Communications has been surveying those responsible for corporate communications in biomass, solar and wind firms about their press and public relations work. The second part of the study will investigate how successful the communication activities are. The final results and reports are due to be published in the fourth quarter of 2013.

PV materials market to jump 52 percent to $27.2 billion in 2018

USA: The global market for photovoltaic (PV) materials is poised to grow 52 percent to $27.2 billion, up from $17.8 billion in 2012. As PV supply and demand come back into balance in 2015, margins will steadily improve and create new opportunities for innovative materials developers, according to Lux Research.

Metals, including polysilicon, metallization pastes, and metallic absorber materials in CIGS, will gain the biggest market share, reaching $12.8 billion in 2018. Polysilicon alone will make a $6 billion market, based on global x-Si module demand.

“Differentiated materials that enable high cell or module efficiencies or longer lifetime will be able to earn a premium and cash in on the growing demand,” said Fatima Toor, Lux Research analyst and the lead author of the report titled, “From Cost Reductions to Performance Enhancements: Mapping the $27 Billion Photovoltaic Materials Market.”

“In addition, the push towards improved quality will lead to materials innovations that not only drive down the $/W but also the $/kWh, enabling sustainable growth of global PV demand.”

Lux Research analysts used detailed cost and demand models to evaluate materials opportunities in the emerging landscape. Among their findings:

Crystalline silicon tops market share. Materials needed for crystalline silicon modules present the largest opportunity, reaching $23.8 billion in 2018. Materials like backsheets, non-EVA encapsulants, metallization pastes, and antireflection (AR) coatings for module glass provide opportunity for innovation.

Differentiation is key. As module manufacturers drive to offer improved efficiencies or reliability, they need innovative materials such as Innovalight’s silicon inks for selective emitter cell design. Other innovators include 1366 Technologies, Natcore, Bandgap Engineering, Polyrise, Cencorp, and Sinovia Technologies.

Move toward quality. The solar industry now prioritizes low $/kWh on top of $/W, offering modules with a longer lifetime. Material suppliers like DuPont and downstream developers are setting the new standard. Simultaneously, companies such as Solar Buyer are helping financial institutions rate module quality.