Onyx Service and Solutions is working its way to making solar power even more available to the public with its Plug-N-Play high efficiency solar panel. Company president Malcolm Burleson advised that Onyx had been focusing its development resources during the past year to bring the 280W panel to fruition.
Odersun’s thin-film solar cells will now carry the “Made in Europe” certificate, which was confirmed by the VDE Institute. The certificate allows solar plant operators using Odersun’s modules to participate in a 10% higher feed-in tariff from Italy’s Conto Energia IV.
Work will begin next year on the first phase of the 500MW Desertec concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in Morocco, according to German newspaper Süddeutschen Zeitung. The initial development stage will cost around €600 million and add 150MW of capacity to the yet-to-be-named site.
LDK Solar subsidiary LDK Silicon & Chemical Technology has been invited by the City Government of Hohhot, the capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, to construct a 30,000MT polysilicon manufacturing facility in the region’s Jinsan Development Zone. The groundbreaking ceremony took place today, and the additional capacity will take LDK Silicon’s total polysilicon production capacity to 55,000MT per annum by the end of 2013.
Nanometrics Incorporated, a supplier of metrology systems has announced that a major manufacturer of advanced thin-film solar PV cells has successfully installed the latest generation of the Trajectory Solar Monitor (TSM) metrology system for in-line process monitoring and control of CIGS films. Exact details of the transaction are yet to be disclosed.
Astronergy, a unit of Chint Group, advised that Munich RE had selected its thin-film amorphous microcrystalline silicon PV panels for a 1.65MW solar project in Thailand. The plant was commissioned on October 28 with Astronergy noting that various Chint subsidiary components were being used for including inverters and BOS system elements.
Total sales from Panasonic’s new subsidiary, Sanyo were down 19% to 669.3 billion yen, compared with 829.7 billion yen in the same period a year ago. Though the company did not provide disclosure of Sanyo solar PV business separately, Panasonic did say that sales were stable in the quarter. Sanyo had previously not disclosed PV sales separately.
China-based integrated manufacturer of solar photovoltaic products, CNPV Solar Power, announced the appointment of Ponsekar Periyanadar as Vice President sales and marketing for South Asia.
Automations Tooling Systems (ATS) has announced its Photowatt France subsidiary is implementing a reduction of work days program. The modules and inverter manufacturing facility based in Bourgoin-Jallieu, France, will be operating at approximately one-third of its production capacity.
Working with its 16 project partners Imec has launched the European FP7 project X10D. The collaboration will see the companies working towards the development of tandem organic solar cells that boast increased conversion efficiency, a longer lifetime and a smaller production cost. Imec advised that the overarching goal of the project is to bring OPV technologies into the competitive thin-film PV market.
