Accrued Liabilities (Details) (USD $)	6 Months Ended
	Apr. 30, 2014		Oct. 31, 2013
Accrued Liabilities, Current [Abstract]
Accrued payroll and employee benefits	$ 4,178,000	[1]	$ 4,647,000	[1]
Accrued contract and operating costs	34,000	[2]	87,000	[2]
Reserve for product warranty costs	1,126,000	[3]	860,000	[3]
Reserve for service agreement costs	3,025,000	[4]	4,186,000	[4]
Reserve for repair and upgrade program and modules due POSCO Energy	159,000	[5]	7,267,000	[5]
Accrued taxes, legal, professional and other	3,548,000	[6]	4,865,000	[6]
Accrued Liabilities, Current	12,070,000		21,912,000
Product Warranty Accrual, Warranties Issued	1,900,000
Product Warranty Accrual, Payment and Adjustments	1,700,000
Loss Reserve on Service Agreements	2,500,000		3,700,000
Reserve for Performance Guarantees	$ 600,000		$ 500,000

[1] Balance relates to amounts owed to employees for compensation and benefits as of the end of the period.

[2] Balance includes estimated losses accrued on product sales contracts.

[3] Activity in the reserve for product warranty costs for the six months ended April 30, 2014 included additions for estimates of potential future warranty obligations of $1.9 million on contracts in the warranty period and reserve reductions related to actual warranty spend of $1.7 million as contracts progress through the warranty period or are beyond the warranty period.

[4] As of April 30, 2014 and October 31, 2013, the loss reserve on SA's totaled $2.5 million and $3.7 million, respectively. Also included in this line item is a reserve for performance guarantees penalties under the terms of our customer contracts, which based on our ongoing analysis of historical fleet performance, totaled $0.6 million and $0.5 million as of April 30, 2014 and October 31, 2013, respectively.

[5] October 31, 2013 relates to three replacement modules due to POSCO Energy.

[6] Balance includes accrued sales, use and payroll taxes as well as estimated legal, professional and other expense estimates as of the end of the period.