Low demand for solar modules has hit yet another solar PV manufacturer. ATS’s Photowatt, which has manufacturing in France, announced today it will shut down its facilities for three weeks “in response to lower demand for solar modules and systems.” The company said it will take the down time to implement process improvements, which is a smart thing to do. Still, it’s just the latest sign of how the credit crisis is slowing down the market for renewable-energy projects. There’s no shortage of projects in the hopper, but they’re moving slowly as developers figure out ways to raise cash or simply hunker down and wait out the storm. Day4 Energy, Arise and Timminco are among the other publicly traded Canadian solar companies that have been hit hard by the downturn. And, of course, there are many more beyond Canadian borders.

Lots of news to report from the Great White North, where we’ve got a great stable of cleantech companies — even if they are generally underappreciated and underfunded. Speaking of underfunded, I’d just like to highlight that Canadian cleantech companies raised just $49 million (U.S.) in the third quarter. For perspective, U.S. companies raised $1.75 billion. If we apply the standard 10x calculation to figure out where Canada should be, we would have raised $175 million. We’re not even close. That said, California took a lion’s share of U.S. funding — $1.1 billion. That means the rest of the U.S. raised $650 million, putting Canada’s share in the ballpark. Clearly, California is skewing the results and eating everyone else’s lunch. But I digress.

Here’s what’s going on in Canada: (more…)