The CISARIS oven from Singulus Technologies is an in-line rapid thermal processing equipment, designed for the CIGSSe absorber formation on large area glass substrates. The main features of the CISARIS include a high uptime and mechanical yield, as well as a fast cycle time, which, in combination with the robust selenisation process, lead to a production capacity of over 25 MWp per year.
A thermoplastic encapsulant from Wacker, ‘TECTOSIL’ has proved to offer protection against potential-induced degradation (PID), according to tests carried-out by Photovoltaik-Institut Berlin. The testers confirmed that such modules do not display leakage currents due to PID when using the thermoplastic silicone elastomer sheet in the encapsulation of PV modules.
Shipments of both polysilicon and solar wafers at GCL-Poly, China’s largest producer, fell significantly in the third quarter of 201 underlining the overall weakness in demand from major tier 1 module manufacturing customers based in China.
China's Yingli Green Energy has warned that it expects Q3 2012 gross margins to plummet on the back of inventory write downs, lower capacity utilisation and countervailing and anti-dumping duties impact.
A significant fall in orders and bookings within Manz's solar division were partially offset by increased business within its display division, the specialist equipment supplier has reported.
Silicon crystallisation equipment supplier PVA TePla generated revenue of €83.7 million in the first nine months of 2012, slightly higher than the same period a year ago when revenue reached €77.3 million.
French CPV manufacturer Soitec has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with South Africa’s public utility Eskom for its planned 44MWp Touwsrivier power plant.
Algerian state-owned utility Sonelgaz is planning to build 4.2GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022 in a move designed to meet future domestic demand and establish an export market for electricity.
Challenging competitive market conditions in Europe are forcing SunPower to re-evaluate its business strategy in the region after sales shrank and its European operations were loss-making in the third quarter of 2012.
