news digest ♦ Solar
Abound Solar to suspend operations
Over one hundred employees of the cadmium telluride solar panel manufacturer will be affected by the new agreement
Abound Solar, a manufacturer of thin-film CdTe photovoltaic modules intends to file a petition for protection under U.S. Bankruptcy Code in Delaware very soon.
About 125 employees will be affected by the suspension of operations.
Earlier this year, Abound ceased production of its first generation PV module and has been working to scale up manufacturing for its high-efficiency, second generation PV module, which was tested and verified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to deliver 85 watts per panel and 12.5 percent efficiency.
Abound has been in discussions with potential buyers over the last several months, but ended negotiations when the involved parties were unable to come to an agreement.
The firm’s funding has come from $300 million in private investment and $70 million from a DOE loan guarantee program. Abound had used $70 million of the awarded $400 million DOE loan guarantee for construction of solar panel manufacturing lines in Colorado.
Abound has not drawn down any further DOE funds since August of 2011 when the DOE determined that challenging market conditions in the solar industry did not merit additional funding risk.
Abound believes that, at scale, its USA-made CdTe panel technology has the ability to achieve lower cost per watt than competing crystalline silicon technology made in China. However, aggressive pricing actions from Chinese solar panel companies have made it very difficult for an early stage startup company like Abound to scale in current market conditions.
According to the U.S. Commerce Department, the U.S. solar market has seen the prices for panels drop by more than 50 percent in the past year at a
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time when the value of imports of Chinese-made solar cells nearly quadrupled from $639 million in 2009 to $3.1 billion in 2011. Abound supports recent initiatives to enforce fair trade with import tariffs, but this action is unfortunately too late for the company.
Abound is appreciative of the significant investment from private investors and the U.S. Department of Energy.
Employees should be proud of their continuous innovation and daily efforts to support customers. Abound believes that competitive solar energy remains important to U.S. energy security and job creation, and that longer term, consistent renewable energy policy is critical to encourage further private investment in this sector.
First Solar to supply CdTe solar modules in Catalina project
The cadmium telluride facility will generate enough to power the equivalent of about 35,000 homes annually enXco, an EDF Energies Nouvelles Company, has signed a solar module supply agreement with First Solar.
First Solar will deliver 61 megawatts peak (MWp) of thin film modules starting in September 2012 for enXco’s Catalina Solar Project located in Kern County, California.
Catalina Solar will be built in two phases. The first phase of approximately 60 MWp is targeted to go online by the end of 2012 and the remainder of the project by June 2013. The plant will generate enough clean energy to power the equivalent of about 35,000 homes annually and will offset about 74,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions every year.
“We are pleased to enter into this agreement with First Solar to supply a portion of the Catalina Solar Project,” says Kristina Peterson, Vice President, Solar Business Unit for enXco. “First Solar has been and continues to be a good partner. Their technology remains one of the lowest LCOE solar PV solutions.”
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