Around the Industry

Jan. 8, 2010
PV manufacturer files for IPO While the IPO scene has been mighty quiet in recent months, the announcement by Solyndra, Inc., a Fremont, Calif.-based

PV manufacturer files for IPO

While the IPO scene has been mighty quiet in recent months, the announcement by Solyndra, Inc., a Fremont, Calif.-based manufacturer of photovoltaics (PV), has created quite a stir in solar circles according to industry insiders because of its innovative cylindrical photovoltaic systems for commercial, industrial and institutional rooftops. The company was also in the news last year when it received a $535 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 for construction of a new PV panel manufacturing facility.

According to information at www.solyndra.com, the company's proprietary PV systems generate significantly more solar electricity per rooftop at a lower installed cost than conventional flat panel PV technologies and are less expensive to install due to the simple horizontal mounting and unique air-flow properties of the solar panels. Solyndra started shipping panels in July 2008.

LEDs produce 15% of sales for Osram

Bloomberg recently reported the Osram division of Siemens AG (parent of U.S.-based Osram-Sylvania, Danvers, Mass.) now generates 15 percent of its sales with LED technology. The company is one of the world's largest producers of LEDs, according to IMS Research, Wellingborough, England. An IMS research report says Osram is second in the world in LED production behind Nichia, Tokushima, Japan. That report says the top three companies in 2007 in terms of total dollar revenues for packaged LEDs were Nichia (24% of the market), Osram Opto (10.5%) and Lumileds/ Philips (6.5%).

Said the research report, “These three companies have been well-established as the top three for several years now. Although full data for 2008 was not available as the report went to press, it's believed that the top three rankings will be the same for 2008. Lumileds may face competition for the third spot from Seoul Semiconductor in the next few years. For several years now, Seoul Semiconductor has grown aggressively and faster than the overall LED lighting market and has risen steadily through the top 10 to reach fourth spot.”