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  JinkoSolar opens PV module testing lab in China, receives UL WTDP certificate

  59 minutes ago

  JinkoSolar Holdings has opened a PV module testing lab in Jiangxi, China, which was awarded the Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Witness Testing Data Program (WTDP) certificate. The company worked with UL to obtain certification and will now be able to offer customers and third party’s testing facilities, under the supervision of UL personnel, with an aim to ensure high quality and expedite the time to market.

• 

  Report: Silex Systems restarts production at its Sydney solar module facility

  2 hours ago

  According to RenewEconomy, Silex Systems has restarted production at its solar module facility in Sydney, Australia. The company announced in November that it would be halting production as it was hard hit by the rooftop solar market and was looking for ways to restructure its business. The report states that Silex decided to start operation again, upon Tindo Solar’s plans to begin commercial production were publicized. Plans to continue ramping up capacity at the company’s Sydney site are being considered.

• 

  Apple to construct 20MW plant in North Carolina, US

  21 February 2012, 16:57

  Apple has announced in its Facilities Report it is to construct the largest end user owned, onsite solar array in the US. The rumours surrounding the technology company’s renewable energy goals have been put to bed. The 20MW facility, in Maiden, North Carolina, will be installed on 100 acres of land, supplying 42 million kWh of renewable energy annually.  Apple will also be building a fuel cell installation, powered by 100% biogas to provide more than 40 million kWh of baseload renewable energy annually.

• Hoku gets limited concession on power payments for polysilicon plant

  21 February 2012, 16:42

• Trina Solar remains committed to 500MW solar cell and module capacity expansion

  16 February 2012, 17:38

• AEG Power increases sales in 2011 on polysilicon and PV power plant projects

  13 February 2012, 06:54

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  Second-generation ThinFab turnkey system from Oerlikon Solar sets lowest module costs

  26 January 2012, 17:03

  Oerlikon Solar’s 2nd generation ThinFab turnkey system is claimed to enable a CapEx reduction of more than 20%. The estimated price for the complete end-to-end production line is just US$1/Wp including engineering support and performance guarantees. The production line is claimed to produce high quality thin film silicon modules for cost of around $ 0.5/Wp (€ 0.35/Wp), a new record-low in the solar industry.

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  AMETEK offering larger fluoropolymer piping for scaling to larger PV manufacturing facilities

  03 October 2011, 09:36

  AMETEK Fluoropolymer Products has added tubing with diameters ranging from 1 ½ inches to 3 inches to its line of ultrahigh-purity (UHP) tubing for the semiconductor and photovoltaic industries. Schedule 40 pipe with diameters up to 3 inches also are available to meet the need for larger-scale production sites.

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  MV Products vacuum foreline traps improve pump lifetimes

  15 June 2011, 11:50

  MV Products is introducing a line of vacuum foreline traps for manufacturing processes that create large volumes of solid byproducts such as those used for producing solar cells, HB-LEDs, and Li-ion batteries.

• Schiller automates junction box assembly for higher reliability and lower cost

  30 May 2011, 16:39

• New software from Fujitsu optimizes production line workers operations

  26 May 2011, 12:09

• Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum’s magnetically levitated turbo molecular pumps offer full system integration

  25 May 2011, 13:27

• Integral characterization: Traceability from feedstock to cell

  For a vertically integrated solar cell production starting with purification of silicon feedstock and ending with the production of solar cells, it is necessary to have control over all possible parameters that may affect yield, efficiency and product quality. This paper presents an approach for tracking products with minimal effort using a contactless technique. The method allows wafers to be virtually reconstructed into bricks and ingots, as well as recognizing the precursor wafer for each solar cell.

• True sustainability in the PV industry: The case for carbon footprint certification

  How much carbon is emitted in producing a solar PV module and launching it on the market? This could be an important question which project developers, installers, investors, government agencies and end customers might ask solar PV manufacturers in the future. To answer it, producers need to know the direct emissions from the manufacturing process, as well as those generated from the activities of manufacturers in the upstream supply chain (including raw material acquisition, upstream energy use, packaging, transportation and procurement), and also those arising from module usage and eventual recycling. This paper, written in a cooperation between EuPD Research and Deutsches CleanTech Institut (DCTI), presents an overview of PV’s carbon footprint.

• Water management planning for photovoltaic manufacturing facilities

• Industrial symbiosis in photovoltaic manufacturing

• The Q-Cells research line: a development tool for new silicon solar cell technologies

• Performing experiments in photovoltaic manufacturing using knowledge management technologies

Most Popular

• All
• News
• Blog Posts
• TV & Video

• 1. PV-Tech Newscast - February 17, 2012

• 2. MEMC catches its breath after US$1.48 billion loss

• 3. Utilities take control with a copper-bottomed trend for inverters

• 4. Trina Solar remains committed to 500MW solar cell and module capacity expansion

• 5. Suntech guides 2011 revenue topped US$3.13 billion; recorded impairment charges of US$571 million

• 1. MEMC catches its breath after US$1.48 billion loss

• 2. Trina Solar remains committed to 500MW solar cell and module capacity expansion

• 3. Suntech guides 2011 revenue topped US$3.13 billion; recorded impairment charges of US$571 million

• 4. Competitive pricing leads to Chinese Tier-2 crystalline PV modules prices dropping to US$0.96/W

• 5. Leading manufacturers collaborate to update International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaics

• 1. PV module costs and prices–what is really happening?

• 2. Other than First Solar, who holds a low-cost manufacturing benchmark?

• 3. Solar short takes: Suniva implements ion implantation, First Solar turns knobs, CIGS gets purified

• 4. Don’t look now, but UK PV installation figures are out

• 5. Eye on Stion, Part II: Getting a taste of tandem-junction CIGS PV layer cake

• 1. PV-Tech Newscast - September 8, 2011

• 2. PV-Tech Newscast - September 2, 2011

• 3. Canadian Solar: Dr. Shawn Qu discusses ELPS technology & ‘virtually-integrated scale’ manufacturing

• 4. PV-Tech Newscast - September 30 2011

• 5. PV-Tech Newscast – November 25, 2011

Publications

• 

  Photovoltaics International 14th Edition

  Published in November 2011, the 14th edition of Photovoltaics International provides a variety of technical papers from some of the industry’s stalwarts. Features include: TÜV Rheinland on junction box testing; Laser Zentrum Hannover on laser edge isolation of mc-Si cells; Calisolar on the importance of traceability; Fraunhofer ISE on EWT cells; and EPIA on Europe’s LCOE.

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  Photovoltaics International Lite, Volume 05 - 2011

  This digital interactive Lite sees Tom Cheyney follow Agua Caliente’s progress on becoming one of first truly utility-scale PV power farms, where 40–50MW (AC) will be commissioned by the end of the year. We also feature one of the world’s largest silicon thin-film PV power plants, Avenal; a report on warnings of the collapse of module prices from Solarbuzz and PI-Berlin presents tips on PV module testing. A print version of this edition will be distributed at Solar Power International 2011 in Dallas, Texas.

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  Manufacturing The Solar Future: The 2011 Production Annual

  Manufacturing the Solar Future is the primary source guide for detailed information on the PV production process. This annual provides technical details on how the leading companies and research organizations worldwide are addressing this need by dramatically improving their manufacturing processes.