SolarFromChina

San Chih announces solar ingot investment in China

San Chih Semiconductor, the parent company of Green Energy Technology, has announced it will establish a solar ingot sawing production base in China.

San Chih said it will invest US$7.6 million to establish the plant. Industry sources added in saying that the plant is already under construction in Shandong and should be completed during late 2008.

In related news, San Chih also plans to hold an initial public offering (IPO) in Taiwan and is expected to submit its application in the third quarter. The official offering is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2009.

ET Solar Group Corp, a Nanjing-based vertically integrated manufacturer of photovoltaic products, announced Wednesday it has won a deal to supply 500 kilowatt of PV modules to Techwin, a leading plant engineering and environmental technology development company in Korea.

The ordered 500 kilowatt of PV modules will be delivered to Techwin during the third quarter of this year. This deal is ET Solar's first step to tap into the Korean PV market. Earlier it has won supply deals in Italian and French markets, according to Wang Xinghua, CEO and chairman of ET Solar.

In the next few months, ET Solar hopes to forge some new relationships and become a bigger solar equipment supplier in the booming Korean PV market, said Wang. Sang-IK Park, Senior Managing Director of Techwin, said he expected to further cooperate with ET Solar in the future.

ET Solar provides high quality PV modules. It has two manufacturing facilities in Taizhou, China. It has expanded its business to the world's major solar markets, including the U.S., Germany, Italy, Spain, and Korea. Its products include ingots, wafers, modules, and state-of-the-art dual-axis tracking systems.

Wind power plants are attracting increasing investment in China, according to statistics from the United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP).

The newly released UNEP report, Global Trends in Substantial Energy Investment 2008, shows that China's sustainable energy investment increased by 91 percent in 2007 to a record high 10.8 billion U.S. dollars, most of which has flowed to wind power generating units.

The heavy investment enabled China's wind capacity to double to6 GW last year.

Meanwhile, new investment in sustainable energy surpassed 148.4billion U.S. dollars on a global scale, up 60 percent year on year. Funds in the wind power sector became the biggest contributor to the surge.

"At present, wind and solar power have already stood as the hottest spots for renewable energy investment. Alternatives like hydropower and nuclear energy are also coming into the field," said Zhang Shigang, representative of UNEP China office.

Beijing has taken quick action to catch up with the new global trend in clean energy development. Guanting wind power plant, in suburban Beijing, began full operation here on Saturday, supplying wind generated electricity into China's capital for the first time.

With the last 10 wind power generating units officially certificated by Beijing Electric Power Company, the plant has now installed 43 domestically developed wind power units, with a capacity of 64.5 thousand kW.

The plant is expected to supply 100 million-kWh electricity per year, or 300,000 kWh per day, to meet the daily demand of 100,000 households.

Officials with Guanting called the wind power plant a key project for the success of Green Olympics. Statistics from Guanting shows that the power plant could help cut yearly emission of carbon dioxide by 100 thousand tonnes and save 50 thousand tonnes of coal each year.

Chinese solar company LDK Solar Co Ltd on Wednesday said it signed a 10-year contract to supply about 400 megawatts of solar wafers to Belgium-based Photovoltech.

The company said it will deliver the multicrystalline solar wafers -- the principal raw material used in solar cells -- from 2009 through 2018.

It did not disclose the value of the contract but said Photovoltech will make a down payment for a portion of the contract's value.

Shares of LDK closed at $38.39 on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

Canadian Solar Inc. has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell 3.5 million new common shares in the United States in a public offering, the company said late Monday.

The China-based company also plans to grant its underwriters, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Piper Jaffray & Co., an option to purchase up to 525,000 additional common shares within 30 days of the offering.

Canadian Solar, which designs and manufactures products that convert sunlight into electricity, plans to use the proceeds from the offering for working capital, general corporate purposes and potential future acquisitions.

The company's shares soared $5.99, or 18 percent, to $38.39 Monday after the company raises its revenue outlook for the second quarter. Shares declined $2.39, or 6.2 percent, to $36 in after-hours trading.