UK-based multicrsytalline wafer manufacturer PV Crystalox Solar has been awarded significant damages following a judgement over a contract dispute.
The firm had been embroiled in a long-running case with an unnamed solar energy company that failed to purchase wafers produced by PV Crystalox as set out in a contract originating from 2013.
The International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce made the final award and now the customer, simply described by PV Crystalox as “one of the world’s leading PV companies”, must pay around €34 million plus interest.
That payment is not conditioned upon the delivery of 22.9 million wafers as requested in the contract, however the customer has retained the right to seek delivery should it wish to.
Earlier this year PV Crystalox confirmed that it was to close its Oxford-based multicrystalline ingot/brick product facility following “adverse market conditions”, resulting in the loss of the majority of jobs at the plant.
The company had been struggling for several years to be profitable in the solar wafer sector of the industry after continued overcapacity, primarily in China and the more recent increases in polysilicon prices that compressed margins for all wafer producers, not least the largest in the industry, GCL-Poly.