Despite module and inverter shortages and a lack of well-trained installers as well as significantly higher prices than seen in Germany, the UK solar market is claimed to be the fastest growing in the world right now. According to market research firm iSuppli, solar system installations will reach 96MW in 2010, up 1500% from barely a year ago and before the feed-in tariff (FiT) was introduced in April. In 2009, only 6MW had been installed.
Having invested US$700 million in 2009 to build silicon wafer production facilities with a total nameplate capacity of 2GW, GCL-Poly Energy will invest a further US$300 million to boost wafer production capacity by a further 1GW. The company has production facilities in Wuxi, Xuzhou, Changzhou, and Suzhou, China. The company noted that wafer capacity has ramped up to 1.2GW as of June.
With its worldwide manufacturing plants said to be working under full load, SolarWorld has reported module shipments of 237MW in the second quarter, with revenue reaching €382.8 million. Shipments were up 90% compared to the same period a year ago and revenue by 68.6%, SolarWorld reported.
Thin-film module manufacturing costs took a significant fall in the second quarter as First Solar continued to lead the PV industry in the lowest cost-per-watt race.
Organic photovoltaics (OPV) developer Solarmer Energy has once again reported record cell efficiencies, certified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at 8.13%. In December 2009, Solarmer reported a plastic OPV champion cell of 7.9%. The company noted that going beyond 8% cell efficiencies had been a psychological barrier for the OPV industry. The new record was achieved with new polymers developed that generated higher conversion rates.
Product Briefing Outline: Coveme has developed a high performance PET backsheet, ‘dyMat PYE 3000,’ which is claims is able to resist over 3000h of DHT (Damp Heat Test), offering the best performance currently available on the market. The dyMat PYE range of Coveme laminates protects photovoltaic cells from humidity, atmospheric agents and chemical attacks, guaranteeing total insulation at high voltages.
Product Briefing Outline: Indium Corporation has introduced a newly designed tabbing and bus ribbon kit range. The kits, which contain common sized tabbing and bus ribbon and fluxes, are available in three versions, including one with a uniquely designed Pb-free, bismuth-containing, low-temperature coating. Tabbing ribbon kits come with everything required to evaluate how Indium Corporation materials will work with solar cells and assembly processes.
The post-mortem has already begun on the news that Applied Materials would stop selling its turnkey ‘SunFab’ thin-film manufacturing lines to new customers and retrench to service and support existing customers in the short-term, while reducing but not eliminating R&D on a-Si process technology.Apart form Greentech Media’s ‘I told you so' article, the best post-mortem analysis so far comes from Ed Korczynski, a well-known semiconductor technology journalist with credentials that include MIT, emiconductor equipment suppliers and a stint working for none other than Applied Materials.
Product Briefing Outline: The InnoLas Impala series of large scale laser processing systems provides multiple laser beams technique and parallel processing heads for increased throughput. Innovative handling concepts minimize defects and contamination. The IMPALA laser systems are designed for all high-accuracy processes (P1 through P3) of thin film processing. InnoLas Systems can ensure optimal transition to industrial production conditions.
Perhaps it should come as no surprise that struggling CIGS thin-film start-up, DayStar Technologies has said that a lease for premises it uses in Newark, California has been terminated. The company is now pursuing opportunities to manufacture CIGS modules offshore. It noted that since May 2010, raising funds to continue operations has proved difficult, and that it could, in the ‘very near term,’ file for bankruptcy.
