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Singulus Technologies said it was the supplier of 3 selenization tools, believed to be its CISARIS system are being used at the recently opened Avancis CIS thin-film production plant in Saxony, Germany for CIGSSe absorber formation. Technical acceptance of the tools had taken place in November 2011, according to the equipment supplier as well as earning itself an award from Avancis as one of the three best suppliers for on-time delivery as well as fast commissioning.
Flamac, a unit of SIM vzw, advised that it will work with imec to develop new semiconductor materials for solar cell applications. The collaboration will see the companies produce materials that are alternates for the standard CIGS solar cells.
Copper-indium-gallium-sulfur-(di)selenide (CIGSSe) thin-film start-up, Stion has attracted new funding worth US$130 million from equipment supplier, AVACO and Korean private equity funds as well as from existing investors that include technology and manufacturing partner TSMC. Some of the funds (US$35 million) are to support the building of a CIGSSe thin-film module plant in Korea in partnership with AVACO. Stion said it was still continuing the planned expansion of its US-based manufacturing plant.
Würth Solar has sold its CIGS production line in Schwäbisch Hall, Germany to Manz. Ownership of the plant, its 118 employees and all of Würth’s PV licenses will be officially transferred on January 1, 2012.
Avancis has said that its new state-of-the-art CIS thin-film module production plant has begun ramping. Construction of the 100MW capacity facility started in June 2010 and enables the company to offer new products, boost efficiencies and lower costs, compared to its previous 20MW facility. The number of employees at Avancis is set to double from the current 250 to almost 500.
Soltecture has revamped its solar energy services, going so far as to launch a new brand deign, in order to improve client accessibility. “The focus of our new brand design is our client: they will get a focused overview of our services and portfolio,” explains Soltecture’s CSO Henrik Kruepper. “Through the integration of our system solutions with our range of services, and by renaming our products in less technical terms, we are delighted to give our brand a more focused and clear identity.”
Two more auctions are scheduled to take place in order to sell the remaining surplus capital and manufacturing assets of Solyndra. Counsel RB Capital advised that the auctions are scheduled for December 13 -14, 2011 and January 25-26, 2012. The December auction will include non-core assets, while the January event will auction Solyndra’ s main manufacturing assets, pending final order from the US Bankruptcy Court.
The up-and-coming solar market of India has received a boost with the news that the US Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) has agreed to fund a 2MW solar PV project in Gujarat. CIGS module manufacturer MiaSolé will supply the project, being developed by Universal Solar Systems, with modules for the park, which will bring India’s National Solar Mission (NSM) a step closer to its aim of establishing 20GW of grid-connected solar capacity by 2022.
Soltecture has produced the first 100W thin-film modules from its Berlin Adlershof manufacturing line. The modules have an efficiency of 13.4% and Soltecture CEO Nikolaus Meyer believes their launch is an important step in its long-term target of achieving 16% efficiency.
International Solar Electric Technology (ISET) announced that it had recently shipped its first full-sized modules to customers in South Korea from its pilot production site in Los Angeles. The initial products are said to have been designed and manufactured to meet the specifications of distributed power markets with aims to supply off-grid electricity to the agricultural, industrial and transportation market segments.
