PV equipment supplier Roth & Rau has appointed Rainer Erdmann as Sales Director for Europe and Asia, replacing Thomas Hengst who was appointed a Management Board member in charge of sales in July of this year. The company is also extending its sales and service presence in India with new offices in Mumbai with additional service teams planned in Hyderabad, Delhi und Pune in the coming months.
Laser based equipment supplier, 4JET has said that it has received multiple new orders for edge deletion equipment used for thin film cell processing. The orders came from CIGS, a-Si and CdTe thin film manufacturers.
The race to higher conversion efficiencies in volume production for both monocrystalline and multicrystalline cells continues with news that Canadian Solar plans to boost cell performance to 18.5% and 16.8%, respectively. This will be accomplished by using several advances that include improvements in screen printing techniques, better texturization and a modified selective emitter process. The company said that these successful R&D projects will be migrated to production lines in the fourth quarter of 2009.
The French government is making some changes to its solar subsidy program, which some may view as positive, some may not. These changes came amidst a host of damaging reports on other countries, such as Spain, Korea and more recently the USA. Yet it seems that France may not be making these changes based on the downfall of others, but as a chance to shine in its own right.
With a demonstrated and verified conversion efficiency of 18%, Innovalight has found a commercial partner in the form of JA Solar, which intends to use the ink technology and equipment required to enter volume production by the end of 2010. JA Solar said that is was already developing silicon ink-based high efficiency solar cells (on silicon) at its R&D pilot line in Yangzhou, China.
Dow Corning has started construction of a high-purity monosilane gas manufacturing plant in Thomas Township, MI. The factory, located adjacent to Hemlock Semiconductor's polysilicon production facility, is expected to be completed in 2011.
The fall-out from rapid price declines for polysilicon and wafers due to weak demand and increasing overcapacity in materials and production has taken a new twist with legal action being touted by both REC and China Sunergy over a long-term (2009-2015) take-or-pay mono-wafer supply contract. Many poly and wafer suppliers have been forced to lower contract prices and adjust shipment quantities as spot prices fall below contract prices, disadvantaging cell producers that are tied to take-or-pay contracts compared to those without such contracts.
Abrisa, industrial glass fabrication products and precision thin-film optical coatings company, has named industry veteran Jim Veler as President and Chief Executive Officer. The appointment became effective June 1, 2009, although the company only announced this news September 10.
Premier Power Renewable Energy has made progress on the first phase of its 20MW solar pipeline in located in the Puglia region of southern Italy. This is the first in a series of projects valued in excess of US$100 million that are being developed as a result of Premier Power's acquisition of Arco Energy in July this year.
