A commercial partner RD&E program going back to 2012, between Fraunhofer ISE and Bystronic glass is being touted as serious candidate to be the future of high-volume and lower cost PV module assembly that overcomes current dual-glass frameless product offerings.
Inline measurement equipment specialist Aurora Solar Technologies has won an initial order from an undisclosed customer in mainland China, its first order for its Decima measurement system and ‘Veritas’ software in China.
PV Tech’s preliminary analysis of global PV manufacturing capacity expansion announcements in January, 2017 have remained subdued and continue the trend set in the second-half of 2016.
PV manufacturing equipment specialist SCHMID Group has launched a new texturing tool for diamond-wire-cut multi-c-Si wafers that has already secured orders in the 500MW range and expects significant order intake through the first half of 2017.
SCHMID has launched a cost-effective process for the texturing of diamond-wire cut multi-c-Si wafers that can be easily integrated into existing production lines. DW PreTex is being made available in two versions: as a separate single unit that roughens the surface of the wafers and then uses the available texture capacity, or as a combined line for complete texturing. Based on an in-line wet process, the process is suitable for both wafer and cell manufacturers.
US-based PV module manufacturer Mission Solar is to cut its existing workforce by a further 58% after closing its solar cell production lines at its facilities in San Antonio, Texas in October 2016.
Sweden-based thin-film equipment specialist Midsummer AB said it had received an order from an undisclosed customer based in Asia for its CIGS, ‘DUO’ solar cell sputtering tool.
Yingli Green Energy the eighth largest PV module manufacturer in 2016, according to the latest PV Tech rankings (by shipments), is to supply an unnamed customer in Australia with 13.3MW of its 72-cell 1500V series modules.
Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) provider Celestica said it was winding down solar module assembly operations at its Toronto, Ontario, Canada production plant in the first quarter of 2017.
