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Adhesives Research (AR) has introduced new bonding technologies for bus bar, solar cell junction boxes and encapsulation barrier applications in crystalline and thin-film PV modules. The pressure-sensitive adhesive tapes (PSA) are said to present a respectable alternative to more traditional bonding methods with benefits such as ease-of-handling, continuous roll formats and an easy clean up.
As Intersolar Europe wraps up its first day, Masdar PV has taken the opportunity to announce that its Ichtershausen plant is in the midst of renovating its production line to its micromorph silicon technology and expanding the plant’s production capacity to 95MW. The new modules, which are set to arrive on the market this year, are said to carry an initial 9% efficiency, with plans to increase the efficiency to 11% within two years of the module’s market debut.
First Solar has reached its next manufacturing milestone, producing 4GW of thin-film photovoltaic modules since the company began commercial production in 2002. Adding to this target, the company has also announced that its second factory at Frankfurt (Oder), near Brandenburg in Germany has begun producing solar modules, one month ahead of schedule. The four new production lines at the new facility are still expected to ramp to full production during the third quarter of 2011…
Konarka Technologies’ New Bedford, Massachusetts facility now features the world’s first OPV semi-transparent BIPV curtain wall, laminated onto seven of the company’s south and east facing 56”x67” windows. Utilizing its own Power Plastic technology, Konarka was able to incorporate the technology into the building structure, producing the largest OPV installation of its kind.
Cylindrical PV system manufacturer Solyndra is set to introduce its 200 Series Metal Roof Solution at Intersolar Europe. The non-penetrating adjustable mounting system is designed to meet the additional solar installation challenges posed by metal roofs, which currently make up a significant portion of the large, low-sloped, commercial, industrial and agricultural rooftop markets.
The board of the Overseas Private Investment Corp. has approved $123 million in financing for the construction of two 20MW solar power plants in Peru, said to be the first large-scale solar power project in the Latin American country. Along with the involvement of Peru’s ProInversion investment promotion agency, the ground-mount-based projects will be developed by T-Solar and use silicon thin-film panels made by the Spanish company with Applied Materials’ SunFab technology.
The Franzen Group, a façade and solar system developer, is teaming up with Odersun, whereby the solar module manufacturer’s CIGS PV modules will be integrated into Franzen’s BIPV projects. The companies intend for their partnership to enhance the use of solar technology in curtain wall type, rear-ventilated façades. Franzen Ingenieur and Montagebau will provide consulting services for the design through installation periods of the solar integrated façades while Odersun supplies its modules for existing façades systems and to individualized specifications.
Oerlikon Solar’s ThinFab thin-film silicon solar modules, which range up to 147Wp, have been confirmed to have passed all performance and safety requirements for IEC 61646 and IEC 61730. TÜV Rheinland conducted the testing, including accelerated lifetime tests for heat, freezing, thermal cycles, humidity and UV exposure, over several months and included a round of mechanical impact tests before certification was granted.
Swiss PV solution company HopSol has entered into a three-year contract with Solar Frontier. The deal will have a market focus in Southern Africa with Solar Frontier delivering double digit megawatts of its CIS solar panels for solar projects in countries such as Namibia, Botswana and the Republic of South Africa. The companies did not reveal the financial details of the supply deal.
Despite changes expected to the UK feed-in tariff that would make large-scale projects uneconomical, while retaining incentives for the residential rooftop market, First Solar has gained Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) certification for its CdTe thin-film modules.The MCS accreditation applies to First Solar’s Series 3 modules FS-370 to FS-385.
