First Solar, the thin-film PV company, first-quarter profit rose 4.7 percent to $172.3 million from $164.6 million. First Solar expects sales this year will be between $2.7 billion to $2.9 billion. Because of tightening government subsidies in Europe, to grow sales First Solar is acquiring project developers in the U.S. This week the company paid $285 million for San Francisco utility-scale solar power developer NextLight Renewable Power [Bloomberg Businessweek].
Danish wind turbine maker Vestas reported a first quarter loss of €83 million ($109.9 million) from a €56 million profit posted in the previous profits. In a statement the company said “The decline in revenue and earnings reflects the much lower level of activity and Vestas’ decision not to adjust its capacity further because of short-term market developments.” The company says the slowdown is short-term and remains bullish for the long-term. It says production capacity by the end of the year will stand at 10,000 megawatts. Vestas recently scored a huge contract to supply 1,500 megawatts worth of turbines to Portuguese clean energy company EDP Renovaveis [BusinessGreen.com].