China Industry Report: Feb. 4

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Feb. 4 – This is a regular series of relevant industry news from around China.

Solar power
Chinese photovoltaic (PV) modules maker Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. said it has entered into a supply agreement with US-based Standard Solar Inc. Under the terms of the contract Suntech will supply up to 5 megawatts of photovoltaic solar panels to the U.S. company in 2009. Financial details were not disclosed.

Chinese solar wafer maker ReneSola Ltd. unveiled a one-year wafer agreement with panels manufacturer BP Solar International Inc, a unit of UK oil giant BP Plc. ReneSola will ship 120 MW of monocrystalline and multicrystalline solar wafers and BP Solar will supply 700 metric tons of polysilicon.

German semiconductor-equipment maker Aixtron AG said it will ship solar cell manufacturing equipment to Taiwan-based Institute of Nuclear Energy Research (INER). Aixtron will deliver its metal organic chemical vapor deposition device named AIX 2800 G4 Planetary Reactor. INER will use the machine to develop Germanium III-V based high efficiency photovoltaic equipment for its high concentration photovoltaic project.

The MOCVD device will be delivered in the first half of 2009 in a 15×4 inch wafer configuration with options for up to 8 inch wafers.

Air transport
Industry insiders reported that Temasek Holdings, a government-owned investment agency, will not bid for AIG’s aircraft leasing unit, International Lease Finance Corp. Previously, AIG received bids from Singaporean, Chinese and Middle East sovereign wealth funds.

Beginning February 1, the Civil Aviation Department of Hong Kong will decrease fuel surcharges by up to 44 percent for two months. The maximum surcharge for short-haul flights will now be at HKD61 and for HKD280 for long-haul flights.

Cathay Pacific Airways has launched its All Asia Pass, which offers round-trip Economy Class air transportation between Los Angeles, New York or San Francisco and Hong Kong plus 21 consecutive days of travel to up to 4 other Asian cities.

Air France-KLM has stopped cargo operations to Guangzhou, China since January 1 due to decreased demand. The company said that if cargo volume reaches minimum required levels again, it will resume services in the summer.

Wind power
Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems A/S has reiterated plans for expansion in China despite the slowing global economy.Following recent media reports that the company may suffer from about 15 percent overcapacity, spokesman Peter Krause told BusinessGreen.com that Vestas will stick to plans to ramp up capacities at its Tianjin facility.

Besides a US$350 million expansion in Tianjin, Vestas is building a foundry plant north of Shanghai and concluding talks over a new facility in Inner Mongolia to build smaller scale kilowatt turbines for the Chinese market.

Hybrid cars
BYD Company Limited plans to start exporting its hybrid cars and other electric vehicles to Europe and America by 2011. Once export begins, the price of the company’s F3DM saloon will be approximately GBP 15,000 (US$21,408).

This industry report brief is courtesy of Aii Data Processing.