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Nov-07-2009Applied Materials picks up Advent Solar assets(topic overview)
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Privately held Advent Solar, founded in 2002 in New Mexico, has technology that streamlines the assembly of photovoltaic solar panels, which convert sunlight into electricity. The acquisition will help Applied Material cut the production costs for its solar panels, said Mark Pinto, the company's chief technology officer and general manager of its Energy and Environmental Solutions group, in a statement. [1] "We believe the acquisition of Advent Solar will increase our opportunities to provide innovative solutions for reducing module production costs," said Mark Pinto, chief technology officer and general manager of Applied's Energy and Environmental Solutions Group, in a statement. After the close of this transaction, Advent Solar's assets will be integrated with Applied's Energy and Environmental Solutions Group.[2]
"What Advent has is emitter wrap-through technology," said Sullivan, which is a "big lever to pull in terms of making solar grid-competitive" in residential roof-deck installations, helping boost the efficiency of solar panels. He expects Applied to integrate with the Baccini cell line, and Mark Pinto, chief technology officer and general manager of Applied's Energy and Environmental Solutions Group, said in today's release that Applied believes the technology will help drive down the cost per watt of solar electricity.[3]
Advent Solar was founded in 2002. Applied Materials said that the assets and intellectual property of Advent Solar will become part of its Energy and Environmental Solutions Group.[4] LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The world's largest chip equipment maker Applied Materials Inc said on Friday that it acquired Advent Solar in a deal it hopes will cut costs in its solar business. The companies did not disclose how much Applied Materials paid in cash for the company's assets, including its intellectual property. Applied Materials is relying on its solar equipment arm to boost growth as its traditional chip business falters, competing with Swiss technology group Oerlikon's solar arm.[1] Friday, November 6, 2009 Advent Solar Acquired By Applied Materials Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Advent Solar, a developer of technology for crystalline silicon (c-Si) photovoltaic cells, has been acquired by Silicon Valley's Applied Materials in a cash acquisition.[4]
''We believe Applied's acquisition of the IP assets of Advent Solar strengthens Applied's c-Si equipment offering by providing customers next generation solar cell design to help improve cell efficiency,'' said Edwin Mok, an analyst at Needham & Co. LLC, in a report. ''While the deal is not material and is unlikely to have an effect on its financials near term, we believe it is necessary for Applied to further grow its c-Si offering. It will enable Applied to expand its capex share in c-Si solar cell production. Applied has been quite successful making acquisitions in the c-Si solar area, and we see little integration risk on this deal,'' he said.[2]
Applied declined to disclose the purchase price. On Friday, San Diego-based Applied Solar Inc. said it had completed the sale of its assets to Quercus APSO, a subsidiary of The Quercus Trust. Quercus APSO plans to change its name to do business as Applied Solar LLC. Applied Solar plans to launch a product in 2010 that will be built into asphalt roof shingles, the company said Friday. The company has listed some production descriptions on its website. One of them touted a panel embedded with crystalline silicon cells made by Suntech Power that would take place of the regular shingles.[5] SAN DIEGO, Nov. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Applied Solar, Inc. (debtor-in-possession) (OTC Bulletin Board: APSO) ("we" or the "Company") announced today that it has closed the previously-announced sale of its assets and operations to Quercus APSO, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Quercus Trust. Quercus APSO, LLC intends to change its name and conduct business as Applied Solar, LLC.[6] The Quercus Trust Announces Acquisition of Applied Solar, Inc. Applied Solar, Inc. (OTCBB:APSO) has closed the sale of their assets and operations to Quercus APSO, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Quercus Trust. Following the combination of the businesses Quercus APSO will change their name and conduct business as Applied Solar, LLC. With the close of the transaction, Applied Solar will have a much stronger balance sheet and little or no long-term debt.[7]
In the same year, Applied completed the acquisition of HCT Shaping Systems SA (HCT), the world's leading supplier of precision wafering systems for manufacturing crystalline silicon (c-Si) substrates for the solar industry. In 2007, Applied introduced its SunFab Thin Film Line, an integrated production line for manufacturing thin film silicon solar modules using 5.7 square meter glass panels. This year, Applied opened an advanced solar research and demonstration facility in Xi'an, China. [2] Advent Solar develops advanced technology for crystalline silicon (c-Si) photovoltaics. Applied expects this acquisition to complement its portfolio of solar PV technologies and enhance its position in the c-Si equipment market.[8] "Combining Advent Solar's PV technology with Applied's expertise in automated wafering and cell production equipment, we expect to deliver systems that will enhance customers' c-Si roadmaps and accelerate the reduction in cost per watt of solar electricity."[9] Advent Solar (Albuquerque, N.M.) provides IP and services to enable higher-valued cell and module products. Advent Solar provides its Ventura technology through a licensing model. Advent achieves its cell-efficiency milestones by leveraging its Emitter-Wrap Through (EWT) back-contact technology, which is part of the Ventura solar architecture. EWT eliminates grid obstruction, while still using cost effective fabrication processes and solar-grade materials, such as mainstream mono-silicon and UMG wafers.[2]
The struggling start-up, Advent Solar, which had already closed its solar module manufacturing line, several rounds of layoffs and shifted its business model to Intellectual Property (IP) provider, has been acquired by Applied Materials for an undisclosed sum.[9] Applied Materials has acquired all of Advent Solar's assets and IP, expecting to enhance its presence in the c-Si PV equipment market.[8] Applied Materials Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.) has acquired substantially all the assets, including the intellectual property, of Advent Solar Inc. (Albuquerque, N.M.), for an undisclosed cash amount.[8]
Eventually solutions for higher efficiency will be less reliant on home-brewed "custom recipes," and more available as turnkey systems. Most of the venture-backed players with incremental advances for crystal and silicon cell efficiency will likely be bought up by incumbents as they come up against the hurdle of fabrication, said Sullivan. He pointed to 1366 Technologies, which "recently rejiggered and is now pursuing equipment development," hoping to ride the wave of this manufacturing revolution for solar power. A crucial difference between 1366 and Advent, said Sullivan, is that 1366 "was able to pull it off before they ran out of cash. They could foreseeably be picked up by someone like Applied Materials that also makes cells."[3] While the amount for the Advent deal is not being disclosed, it "was done very cheaply," said Sullivan. "Investors did not get their money back pennies on the dollar is a very safe assumption." That's because Advent took a big hit at a bad time as a result of the credit crunch. "It was effectively acknowledged that Advent was a failed company," said Sullivan. Right when the startup was ready to start manufacturing its cells for solar panels, the crunch hit. "They had to lay everyone off, shut down the fab, and switch to a quote-unquote licensing model," Sullivan explained, which meant, "We're essentially out of cash, let us recoup some of the cash and we'll package up an IP portfolio for you."[3]
In 2006, Applied completed the acquisition of Applied Films Corp., a supplier of thin film deposition equipment used in manufacturing flat panel displays, solar cells, flexible electronics and energy-efficient glass.[2] Applied's solar acquisition investments now total more than $1 billion, including $330 million for Italy's Baccini and $483 million for Swiss solar wafer equipment company HCT Shaping Systems.[3]
Like other companies in the solar sector, Applied Materials is working to drive down costs as the industry has been hit by a dearth of financing and a tumble in panels prices. The company hopes to cut the cost of producing solar panels below $1 per watt in three years and is on track to post profits at its environmental unit next year.[1] Founded in 2002, Advent also developed a process that it said would completely automate the assembly of solar cells into panels. Advent had wanted to make its own cells and panels, and even signed a deal last year to buy $350 million worth of silicon wafers from Deutsche Solar. In September 2008, Advent said it had lined up Enerpoint, MHH Solartechnik and SunConnex as its distributors. Advent had planned to ship 250 megawatts to these companies through 2013.[5]
Advent Solar has pioneered several innovations for producing c-Si cells and modules, including technology for streamlining module assembly processes and advanced efficiency device architectures.[8] Ventura Solar Technology cells are designed to be used with Monolithic Module Assembly (MMA), a fully-automated module assembly process that applies proven semiconductor-style manufacturing techniques.[2] The Ventura Technology was said to design a platform-level design by combining Emitter-Wrap Through (EWT) back-contact cells with semiconductor device manufacturing methods, helping to eliminate efficiency losses inherent in string-ribbon processing to the final module power generation.[9]
In 2007, Applied acquired Baccini S.p.A., a leading supplier of automated metallization and test systems for manufacturing crystalline silicon (c-Si) photovoltaic (PV) cells.[2]
With the consummation of the transaction, Applied Solar, LLC will have the benefit of a much stronger balance sheet and little or no long-term debt. David Field, the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We are pleased to announce the completion of this transaction, and look forward to continuing our efforts to develop new BIPV products, including an anticipated 2010 introduction of a product that will integrate with asphalt shingle roofing tiles, which represent approximately 80% of the U.S. residential roofing market. [6] Applied Solar, Inc., formerly Open Energy Corporation is a renewable energy company focused on the development and commercialization of a portfolio of solar technologies for residential, commercial and industrial applications.[7] Applied Solar, by the way, used to be called Open Energy. It announced the name change in January this year.[5]
Chip equipment maker Applied Materials announced this afternoon that it is acquiring 7-year-old startup Advent Solar.[3] Advent Solar had raised $111 million since inception. It has a small production line in New Mexico.[2]
Today, "VCs will fund a semiconductor company knowing there's no reason to build production capacity," said Sullivan. Now, with "so much idle production capacity sitting around in East Asia," Sullivan expects to see increasingly similar willingness to support solar startups with no means or intention of producing their own cells.[3]
The Company develops solar energy solutions, solar products and energy management applications.[7]
Based in Newport Beach, California, The Quercus Trust is recognized as one of the North America's leading clean-tech venture funds, with strategic investments in the clean technology areas of solar, water, bio-fuels, wind and batteries. The Quercus Trust is known to provide more value than funding alone, and takes a long-term view of invested capital, leveraging its industry expertise and relationships for the benefit of its portfolio companies.[6] More. Top 10 IC vendors with cash: The world's biggest IC companies by revenue rank not only among the best in their respective industry segments but are also more likely to have huge piles of cash that can be used to fund acquisitions, R&D and product development More.[2] "Given how much capacity is out there, there is no reason to build you own to prove new technologies." Acquisitions of companies like Advent are part of the shift to a fabless market, he said.[3]
The start-up had developed several innovative module assembly techniques that were designed to improve the overall conversion efficiency of the finished model as well as reduce manufacturing costs compared to conventional process steps. [9]
SOURCES
1. Applied Materials picks up Advent Solar assets | Green Business | Reuters
2. EETimes.com - Applied Materials buys Advent Solar
3. Applied Materials Buying Advent Solar Assets, Cheap
4. Advent Solar Acquired By Applied Materials
5. Greentech Media: Applied Buys Advent Solar | Green Light
6. The Quercus Trust Acquires the Assets of Applied Solar, Inc.
7. News and Press release service TransWorldNews
8. Applied Materials Acquires All Advent Solar Assets - 2009-11-06 15:55:09 CST | PV Society
9. Applied Materials buys assets of Advent Solar: Emitter-Wrap Through technology provider - Photovoltaics International
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