Thin-film PV manufacturer First Solar is selling its unused manufacturing plant in Mesa, Arizona, built at a cost of around US$300 million, for over US$100 million.
Norwegian manufacturer REC’s division into REC Solar and REC Silicon has made it possible for the company to “invest heavily in research and development again”, according to REC Solar’s senior vice president for sales and marketing, Luc Graré.
Mercom Capital has published its Q3 2013 Solar Funding and M&A Report, in which the clean energy communications and consultancy firm claims that total corporate funding, global venture capital funding and solar mergers and acquisitions activities all showed increases from the previous quarter.
Professor Stuart Wenham of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) is leading a new PV cell processing initiative with many of the largest Asia-based cell manufacturers in a programme that is expected to improve silicon quality and cell performance.
Sanctions including the withdrawal of feed-in tariff (FiT) certification are being considered by the Japanese government for PV projects that have been approved under the country’s FiT but remain unbuilt.
