Already in evaluation as a substrate for thin film amorphous silicon (a-Si) modules and copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) applications, DuPont’s colourless polyimide film, ‘Kapton’ is also being developed for cadmium telluride (CdTe) applications that open-up new markets for the technology in the fields of lightweight, flexible and high-efficiency applications. Currently, the flexible thin-film market is dominated by a-Si and CIGS-based technologies.
Syncarpha Capital has chosen Siemens Energy to provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for its new 3MW solar plant in Eastampton, New Jersey. Construction work on the ground-based system is set to begin shortly and grid connection is pencilled in for September.
South Korea’s biggest chemicals manufacturer, LG Chem, is planning to spend ? 491 billion (US$455 million) on its first polysilicon plant as it looks to take its first step into the PV industry. The facility, located in Yeosu in southwest Korea, will have the capacity to produce 5,000 metric tonnes of polysilicon per year. LG Chem’s board approved the construction plan on Thursday and it has penciled in a completion date of late 2013.
GT Solar International has appointed John Granara as its new vice of president finance, chief accounting officer and corporate controller. Granara succeeds Richard Johnson, who resigned last week to pursue other interests, and will start the role immediately.
Martifer Solar has signed an agreement with Louroux Bio Energies, which will see the two companies working together to install 25MW of solar PV projects near Rajkot, Gujarat, India. Working in multiple phases, the project should be delivered by the end of December.
SolarBridge Technologies has appointed Bill Mulligan as its newest board member and Bill Paape as its CFO. Over fifty years of professional experience lies between the two men and the company looks forward to SolarBridge growing under their leadership.
Grupo T-Solar and Astonfield Renewable Resources have signed a long-term strategic partnership deal to develop solar PV power plants in India. Site construction is under way on the first project of the collaboration, a 5MW site in Osiyan, Rajasthan, India, which is expected to be commissioned by October.
A period of equipment digestion or what's known as a reset could be at play after aggressive capacity expansions across the PV supply chain in 2010, according to the PV book-to-bill analysis featured in the forthcoming "Solarbuzz PV Equipment Quarterly" report. According to Finlay Colville, senior analyst at Solarbuzz, the PV book-to-bill is forecast to dip sharply below parity before rebounding in Q4’11.
Q-Cells has been nominated for the Intersolar Award 2011 for its ‘Q.ANTUM’ cell concept that earlier this year achieved a record efficiency rating of 18.45%. However, in the days leading up to the largest PV event in this year's calendar, Q-Cells has reported its ‘Q.ANTUM’ cell has been verified by the Fraunhofer ISE institute as reaching cell efficiencies of 19.5%.
The 26th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC) has released its program for the event taking place September 5 through September 9 at the Congress Center and International Fair in Hamburg. Conference General Chairman Dr. Heinz Ossenbrink and Technical Program Chairman Dr. Amulf Jäger-Waldau, both from the European Commission, DG Joint Research Center, helped the International Scientific Committee sort the 1,728 abstracts that applied to present at the conference. This year’s EU PVSEC will feature 82 sessions with 28 plenary, 326 oral and over 1,200 visual poster presentations.
