Limited funds and lack of capacity expansion plans plague solar equipment sector Nuying Huang,Taipei;Jackie Chang,DIGITIMES[Monday 18 June 2012]
On June 13,the world's second largest solar equipment firm,Germany-based Centrotherm,issued a statement indicating financial troubles of its credit lines.The firm noted that negotiations with banks have been on-going.
Industry sources noted that in the past,financial institutions had been eager to tag along for the ride as the solar industry faced undersupply.But as the industry has entered a downturn,banks no longer want to provide easy access to loans.
Banks started limiting the funds available to the solar industry in 2011 due to oversupply and low order problems.The future seemed bleak hence no one wanted to back up the industry with capital.Some Europe-and US-based firms that have high debt ratios soon filed for bankruptcies.The shrinking demand has been causing equipment firms to face the same financial problems and bleak future.
Changes in the solar equipment sector have been occurring for the past two years.Equipment firms such as Applied Materials announced plans to quit the thin-film solar equipment business in 2010.During that time,rumors that China-based firms have not been obliging to contracts have been circulating in the market.Thin-film solar equipment provider Oerlikon Solar was been acquired by Japan-based semiconductor equipment firm Tokyo Electron in first-quarter 2012.
