top solar companies to be worried about in 2012

[Nova78]

The top solar companies to be worried about in 2012 — Cleantech News and Analysis

2011 was a difficult year for solar manufacturers, and don’t expect 2012 to get much better. Lux Research’s Matt Feinstein pens a predictive article for PV Magazine looking at the top solar companies he thinks will struggle in the near term:

1). Nanosolar
2). Solopower
3). Abound Solar
4). Solarworld
5). Oerlikon
6). Suntech Power


BP Solar Announces it’s shutting down December 2011
Energy Conversion Devices Announces temporary suspension of all factories November 2011
Evergreen Solar Declares bankruptcy August 2011
MEMC Electronic Materials Idles one factory December 2011
REC Cuts silicon wafer production in Norway January 2012
Satcon Technology Closes inverter factory in Canada January 2012
Schott Solar Closes cell factory in Germany December 2011
Solar Millennium Files for insolvency December 2011
Solland Solar Exits cell production January 2012
Solon Shuts down U.S. factory. Declared insolvency. December 2011
SolarWorld Shuts U.S. factory September 2011
Solyndra Declares bankruptcy August 2011
SpectraWatt Firesale for $4.9 million September 2011
Stirling Energy Systems Declares bankruptcy September 2011

The sun shines most everyday, whats the problem ?

 

[waltky]

European solar demand strugglin'...

First Solar lays off 2,000 as Europe demand wanes
April 17, 2012 — First Solar Inc. is laying off 2,000 workers and closing its plant in Frankfurt, Germany, in response to waning demand for solar panels and increased competition from China.

America's largest maker of solar panels said the layoffs amount to 30 percent of its global workforce. Some cuts come from shutting down the Frankfurt (Oder) plant, where it doubled the number of employees to more than 1,200 just last year. The company will also shutter some production in Malaysia. Additional jobs will be cut in both Europe and the U.S. Solar manufacturers have been hurt by the global recession, an influx of Chinese panels and declining subsidy programs in Europe. Germany, the world's largest market for solar power, announced in February that it would cut solar subsidies by 30 percent.

"It is clear the European market has deteriorated to the extent that our operations there are no longer economically sustainable, and maintaining those operations is not in the best long-term interest of our stakeholders," said First Solar Chairman and CEO Mike Ahearn in a statement. First Solar, which specializes in "thin film" solar modules that are both cheaper and less efficient than those made by competitors, lost $39.5 million in 2011. Its shares have dropped nearly 85 percent in the past 12 months. The rose about 5 percent in premarket trading.

First Solar must adapt to a solar market that has "fundamentally changed," Ahearn said. "It is essential that we reduce production and decrease expenses," the CEO said. "These actions will enable us to focus our resources on developing the markets where we expect to generate significant growth in coming years." After making the cuts, First Solar said it expects manufacturing costs to drop by $30-$60 million this year and another $100-$120 million a year afterward. It will book a restructuring charge of $245 to $370 million, mostly in its first-quarter results.

Source

 

[waltky]

Two more solar companies go bankrupt...

Denver Post: Colo. Solar Panel Maker That Got $400M Federal Loan Guarantee Goes Bankrupt
June 29, 2012 - Abound Solar, the panel maker with facilities in Loveland, Longmont and Fort Collins, will close its doors next week and liquidate, leaving 125 workers jobless and taxpayers with up to a $60 million tab.

The company ran into production, market and financing problems that forced it to the brink of bankruptcy. Loveland-based Abound received a $400 million federal loan guarantee last July to expand the Longmont plant and build a factory in Indiana but had used only about $70 million. After liquidation, taxpayers will be liable for between $40 million and $60 million, Damien Lavera, a U.S. Department of Energy spokesman, said in a statement.

The Abound bankruptcy comes after California-based thin-film maker Solyndra failed, leaving taxpayers liable for its $535 million loan guarantee. Republicans used Solyndra's failure to criticize the Obama administration for supporting clean-energy companies. Abound had struggled with the falling price of solar panels. Driven by Chinese imports, prices have dropped 70 percent since 2009. The company's technology made a solar cell by applying a thin chemical film to glass. It was supposed to be cheaper than silicon.

Abound faced two competitive problems: It never got its factory to full production, and its panels were not as efficient as silicon cells, analysts said. "For a factory to be economical, it has to run full-tilt," said Eric Wesoff, editor in chief of GreentechMedia, a website that covers the renewable-energy industry. "Abound never got to that point, and it drove up unit costs. Abound planned to offset its lower cell efficiency with cheaper prices but was undercut by falling panel prices. "They couldn't keep up with the downward spiral in prices," said former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, head of the Center for a New Energy Economy at Colorado State University.

In May, the U.S. Department of Commerce imposed about a 31 percent tariff on Chinese solar panels, ruling that they were being sold below cost. "If that tariff had come a year earlier, it might have helped Abound," Ritter said. In February, Abound cut its workforce by about 70 percent, firing roughly 180 full-time workers and 100 part-time employees. It put the Indiana factory on hold. Ken Lund, executive director of the state Office of Economic Development and International Trade, said in a statement: "We're disappointed to hear of Abound Solar's filing and concerned any time Colorado loses jobs."

After the Solyndra failure, the DOE tightened its loan-guarantee process, and that created problems with investors. The DOE wasn't going to award the next $10 million to Abound until there were matching private funds, Wesoff said. Investors wanted to be sure the loan funds were coming before investing, he said. "Abound got caught between a rock and a hard place," Wesoff said.

Also...

Schott Solar also closing
28 June`12 - Schott Solar announced Thursday it would be closing what the company once billed as its North American flagship manufacturing plant, leaving more than 200 employees without jobs.

Schott spokesman Matthew Kraft confirmed the company's decision but declined to immediately provide details about the reasons the plant would close this summer. He said managers spent the day informing their various shifts about the decision. Schott's 200,000-square-foot plant was the first in the world capable of producing both photovoltaic panels for homes and businesses and thermal receivers for large-scale solar-power plants.

Source

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Yay for slave labor in China....whoohoo...

 

[waltky]

Another solar company bites the dust...

Chinese solar panel maker Suntech defaults on $541 million payment
3/19/2013 — Suntech, one of the world's biggest solar-panel manufacturers, said Monday it has defaulted on a $541 million bond payment in the latest sign of the financial squeeze on the struggling global solar industry.

Suntech Power Holdings Ltd.'s announcement was a severe setback for a company lauded by China's Communist government as a leader of efforts to make the country a center of the renewable-energy industry. Its founder, Shi Zhengrong, became one of the industry's most prominent entrepreneurs and a billionaire, only to see most of his fortune evaporate as the company's share price plummeted. The company is "exploring strategic alternatives with lenders and potential investors," David King, who replaced Shi as CEO last year, said in a statement. Suntech was due to make a $541 million bond payment Friday but ran short of cash after suffering heavy losses over the past year.

Workers assemble solar panels at Suntech's factory in the eastern Chinese city of Wuxi. The Chinese company's U.S. shares have dropped to 64 cents.

The company said it reached agreement with holders of 60 percent of the bonds to postpone payment, but Monday's announcement said the bonds' trustee had declared a default. It said that triggered defaults on other debts to the International Finance Corp. and Chinese lenders. "It is currently a very difficult time for our company and our industry, but the management and board of Suntech are committed to finding a way forward that will take into account the rights and interests of all of its constituents, including shareholders, note holders, lenders, customers, suppliers and employees," King said. A sharp drop in solar-panel prices over the past several years has erased the profits of solar-panel makers around the world.

Suntech has also been hurt by a revelation last July that a business partner faked $680 million in collateral for a loan Suntech had guaranteed. Suntech's U.S. shares tumbled in the days leading up to the debt deadline as fears rose that the company could be forced into bankruptcy. The stock, down nearly 80 percent in the past 12 months, dipped another 6 cents to 64 cents in Monday trading. Suntech said it is negotiating with note holders and other lenders in hopes of reaching a deal to restructure its debt. Last week, Suntech announced the closure of its U.S. factory in Goodyear, Ariz., and the elimination of 43 jobs.

Read more: Chinese solar panel maker Suntech defaults on $541 million payment - The Denver Post Chinese solar panel maker Suntech defaults on $541 million payment - The Denver Post