Schmid Silicon Technology polysilicon production activities discontinued.
Solar Grade Silicon development cooperation with Solarvalue terminated.
Since I started asking Sunways AG (FRA:SWW) questions about Schmid Silicon Technology: Schwarze Pumpe production delayed until 2010, “Sunways AG: Projects with Schmid and Solarvalue discontinued” was the double shot press release issued in response Wednesday, March 25, 2009.
Sunways has switched to a new polysilicon supply strategy based on a blend of long term supply contracts and spot market purchases. Sunways AG shares jumped 34.84% to €2.09 as investors welcomed the news.
Schmid Silicon Technology GmbH
Noting that polysilicon production is no longer a “strategically and economically reasonable option for Sunways”, Sunways’ down payment on a polysilicon production line has been refunded by Schmid Silicon Technology (SST). Sunways will “observe the project’s further development.”
Regarding Solarvalue, Sunways said:
In addition, Sunways AG terminated the development cooperation with Solarvalue AG also started in late 2007. The objective of this cooperation was the production of high quality solar cells based on metallurgical silicon. Within the agreed development period, Sunways did not, as originally planned, receive raw materials from Solarvalue AG for test solar cell production runs.
Sunways also said, “No further obligations of any kind will arise to Sunways AG from the termination of these two projects.”
Sunway entered into the SST deal when spot polysilicon prices were at their peak and now terminates when spot prices appear ready to test long term contract prices. As grid parity approaches, will Sunway regret missing the third leg of a polysilicon supply triad? Perhaps Sunways just needed to increase liquidity for solar project financing during the economic malaise?
By contrast, the Solarvalue contract termination is no surprise. I hear process development may have halted at this point. The recent departure of Chief Technology Officer Dr. Julio Bragagnolo is just another symptom of larger financial problems (please see “Solarvalue reduces number of board members”). God only knows why Solarvalue AG shares almost tripled to €0.54 up over 184% the same day. I suspect I might be writing a Solarvalue post mortem in the near future.
I publish a full RSS feed to encourage new Blog readers and subscribers. However, unscrupulous websites such as Eco Friendly Mag (no link provided with intent) strip the Author and Blog source information, republish the feed, and act as though the content is their own. The benefits of a full RSS feed far outweigh the occasional rogue website. But why does Google rank these rogue websites so well in their search results?
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