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With the recent closure of REC’s wafer operations Glomfjord, Norway wafering slurry recycling contractor, SiC Processing said that it would be closing its support plant in Glomfjord. The company operated 3 lines at the facility with an annual capacity of 34,000 tons.
Expected to begin volume production of its flexible CIGS thin-film substrates later this year, SoloPower has installed Critical Manufacturing’s Manufacturing Execution System (MES) software at its production plant in Oregon. The MES provider also installed the cmNavigo MES Productivity Suite at the 400MW nameplate capacity plant.
Due to growing demand, PPG Industries is expanding production capabilities at its flat glass manufacturing facility in Salem, Oregon, to include higher volumes of its ‘SOLARPHIRE’ AR anti-reflective and ‘2XAR’ two-sided, anti-reflective glass for PV module manufacturers based primarily on the West Coast.
Eyelit has completed tallying its financial results for Q4 and the full year 2011. The company did not release specific numbers, but advised that it had completed a record high in Q4 revenue with new customer sales doubling in 2011, over numbers in 2010. Eyelit noted that 50% of its new customers are large multinational corporations with revenues topping US$1 billion.
Clenergy, PV mounting system manufacturer, has moved its European headquarters to Cologne. The offices were formerly located in Frankfurt but the company decided on the strategic move to Cologne in order to optimize logistics and human resource planning. The company’s European warehouse will also be relocated from Southern Germany to the new location in Cologne.
JinkoSolar Holding has opened new regional headquarters, for its Asia-based operations, in Singapore. The office will manage sales, logistics, financing, project development and customer service for the country. The company noted that with the opening of its new office in Singapore, it now has nine sales and marketing offices located on four continents.
French PV module manufacturer KDG Energy has begun the production of China Sunergy’s modules in France. The two companies have entered a memorandum of understanding in 2011, stating that China Sunergy (CSUN) will provide components for solar modules that KDG Energy will manufacture under CSUN’s brand name. KDG Energy officially commenced production of the modules in mid March 2011.
Air Products has completed and brought onstream its hydrogen selenide (H2Se) facility expansion at its electronic specialty materials manufacturing facility in Hometown, PA, USA. The newly expanded high-purity H2Se facility will serve the growing demand from the CIGS market for the compound, which is provided by Air Products to semiconductor and PV customers at more than 99.99% purity levels.
A recent report by market analysts Yole Développement has predicted that the PV equipment and materials markets will drive manufacturing cost reduction, leading to the purchase of in the region of 35GWp of new equipment by 2017. The report, “Crystalline Silicon PV: Technology, Equipment & Materials”, singles out the c-Si sector as facing a period of change whereby the low-efficiency portion of manufacturing capacity will be shut down in order to concentrate on the higher-yielding technologies.
TÜV Rheinland has furthered its reach across the globe with the establishment of a PV module and component testing and certification facility in Gyeongsan, South Korea. The lab – TÜV Rheinland’s seventh – was set up in cooperation with Yeungnam University and is said to be Korea’s first to operate according to the IEC 61215 and IEC 61730 standards.
