Sam Pilgrim

Private equity firm Element Partners has announced that it is to acquire both Bekaert Advanced Coatings (BAC) and Soleras Ltd, with the two companies merging to form Soleras Advanced Coatings.

A global survey conducted by IMS Research has found that an increasing number of PV inverter customers consider Chinese inverters to be of acceptable quality.

Canadian Solar has announced that its solar modules have passed salt spray corrosion testing by independent body TÜV NORD, certifying them for use in coastal or marine environments.

DuPont Microcircuit Materials (MCM) has announced the release of its latest photovoltaic metallization paste, with 15% less silver than previous pastes. The introduction of the Solamet PV51M comes as part of the company’s continued attempts to reduce the silver content of its pastes by 20%, in the face of rising silver prices.

Canadian Solar is to present at Susquehanna Financial’s Fifth Annual Beijing Management Summit on September 15. The PV company’s senior vice president and CFO, Michael G. Potter, and the director of investor relations, Ed Job, will present at the financial firm’s summit, which takes place at the Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel. Investors will also be able to meet with Canadian Solar’s management at the summit.

Thin-film PV module manufacturer NexPower has begun mass production of its new 155W tandem-junction thin-film silicon module. The latest member of the Taiwanese company’s silicon NT-series, the new module will be renamed Xtreme+, along with all further NT-series modules to reach over 155W of nominal power.

Belgian research centre imec has announced the development of its new organic PV cell. Developed in conjunction with Pennsylvanian technology company Plextronics and Belgian chemical company Solvay, the polymer-based single junction cell achieves an efficiency of up to 6.9%. A module using the same polymer achieved an efficiency of 5% across an area of 25cm2.

Taiwanese PV module-manufacturer Neo Solar Power (NSP) today announced the launch of its Black19 solar cell. The 6-inch monocrystalline cell can achieve an efficiency of over 19%, according to NSP, with 60 and 72 cells generating 260W and 310W respectively.

MPrime has become the latest company to provide a 25-year linear warranty for its PV modules. Under the warranty, the crystalline modules are guaranteed to perform at a minimum of 97% of the rated power during the first year and 96.3% during the second year, with an average annual decrease in power output of no more 0.68% over the subsequent 23 years.

Roth & Rau has appointed new members to its supervisory board, replacing the previous board who concluded their term in office last week. At the company’s Annual General Meeting, shareholders chose to elect Michel Hirschi, Andrea Sieber and Peter M. Wagner, with Wagner appointed as chairman of the board.