The solar industry is set to reach annual demand at the 100GW level much earlier than has been forecast by both third-party observers and the leading component suppliers. During 2018, the solar industry is shaping up to ship more than 100GW of solar modules during the calendar year, while 2017 alone will see the number exceed 90GW comfortably.
Solar PV cell and module ribbon interconnect supplier Ulbrich Solar Technologies has closed its production operations in Hillsboro Oregon, due to operating difficulties of SolarWorld Americas after parent company SolarWorld AG went into insolvency proceedings.
Specialist solar PV equipment supplier centrotherm International has reported first half 2017 photovoltaics and semiconductor segment equipment order backlog of nearly €141 million as well as securing CIGS thin-film tool orders from Manz for turnkey line projects in China.
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member Hanwha Q CELLS reported inline second quarter revenue but margins continued to be impacted by declining average selling prices (ASP).
Avinash Hiranandani, managing director, RenewSys India, discusses the production of 5-busbar (BB) solar PV cells in India and the potential ramifications of the anti-dumping petition recently filed by Indian manufacturers.
India recently proposed a new strategy of supporting its domestic solar manufacturers by allocating 7.5GW of local content tenders to Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs), but analysts have identified a number of limitations.
Key manufacturing and R&D assets of bankrupt German integrated PV module manufacturer SolarWorld AG have been acquired by its former founder and chairman, Dr. Ing. Eh Frank Asbeck.
Nanoelectronics research centre imec has taken a perovskite/silicon tandem mini-module-on-cell stack to a record 23.9% conversion efficiency, significantly exceeding its 20.2% efficiency figures reported in 2016.
Specialist solar PV equipment supplier centrotherm has warned that it is unlikely to be profitable in 2017, due to the loss of an arbitration case against a cancelled €290 million integrated (wafer/cell/module) plant in Algeria.
Having just completed its first ‘Solar Roof’ tile system installations in the US, Tesla said in reporting second quarter 2017 financial results that production of the roofing tiles would not enter mass production at its Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo, New York until the end of 2017.
