Síle Mc Mahon

Arxikon, the Greece-based project developer, has requested a shipment of 7.5MW of Solon’s PV modules for installation in various solar projects in the northern Greek cities of Kavala, Xanthi, Kastoria and Drama. The order will see around 30,000 of Solon’s Black 220/16 and 230/07 modules supplied for the projects that are scheduled for grid connection in July and August.

Taiyo Pacific Partners has upped its stake in Japan-based Ulvac to 18%, following its purchase of a 5% shares stake in September 2009. Taiyo is now Ulvac’s largest shareholder Pacific Partners and has, since its initial investment in 2009, acted as a “long-term friendly investor providing valuable advice and support”, according to Ulvac’s president Hidenori Suwa.

Flexible CIGS module manufacturer Global Solar Energy has initiated the steps to attract new investment, enlisting the services of FTI Capital Advisors to investigate new investor participation that could see the partial or complete takeover of the company.

Thin-film CIGS manufacturer AQT Solar has announced its completion of a significant phase of its CZTS prototype module development, producing a 60-watt module in collaboration with its manufacturing partners. Earlier this year, the company revealed that it had achieved high efficiencies with its sputter-deposited CZTS thin-film solar cell.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems (CSE) has appointed CPV expert Geoffrey S. Kinsey, Ph.D. to the role of director of its Photovoltaic Technologies Group. Dr. Kinsey joins the organization from his former role as senior director of R&D at Amonix, where he led a team working on the optimization of III-V multijunction cells for solar power generators, recently reaching a module efficiency of 33% in outdoor operating conditions.

Bisol’s latest generation of EasyMount high density polyethylene (HDPE) mounting systems will be launched at Intersolar Europe next week. This second generation of mounting systems are said to be lighter than their predecessor; made specifically for Bisol’s module range, the mounting systems are claimed to allow more efficient cooling of the PV modules they support.

Hamburg-based asset manager Luxcara has been the recipient of a 12MWp PV power plant in Aquitaine, south-western France, said to have been purchased by EDF EN for around €49 million. Luxcara’s Luxemburg-based Flaveo SA, SICAV-FIS fund has received the "Béguey" plant, which has a capacity of close to 12MWp and is equipped with inverters from SMA Solar and modules from First Solar.

Providing around 90% of the school’s energy requirements, SolarWorld has installed 6.1MW of its PV panels on a 30-acre site adjacent to the Lawrenceville School. The boarding school’s ground-mounted system was initially developed by TurtleEnergy and was purchased in 2011 by KDC Solar, which completed the development and constructed the project.

Calyxo has revealed that its CdTe cell technology has reached 16.2% efficiency, a figure that has been verified by Germany’s SGS testing body. The company uses its proprietary low-cost “hot and fast” atmospheric deposition process in the manufacture of its CdTe cells. Calyxo’s CTO Michael Bauer also expressed confidence in the technology’s potential to reach 17–18% cell efficiency and 14–15% top module efficiency by the end of the year.

Yingli Green Energy has furthered its reach across Asia with its establishment of a regional headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. In conjunction with this new location, the company has also set up a new wholly owned subsidiary in the form of Yingli Japan, or more formally, Yingli Green Energy Japan Corporation, Ltd. The news is a move on the part of the vertically integrated manufacturer to further its business development in Japan.