Cell Processing

The top 50 module manufacturers are to add 10GW of new capacity in 2014, predicts PV Pulse.

Major tier one PV manufacturer JA Solar reported better than guided shipments for the fourth quarter of 2013, while ending two years of quarterly losses on revenue of US$357.3 million.

Dubbed ‘Merlin,’ GT Advanced Technologies has launched a c-Si solar cell metallisation and interconnect technology that it claims will boost conversion efficiencies while lowering production costs via significantly reduced silver paste consumption.

JA Solar’s PV module shipments are projected to grow at a strong 44% CAGR through 2015, according to ROTH Capital equity analyst, Philip Shen.

Having worked with the Australian National University (ANU), the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) and PV Lighthouse, a two-year R&D program with Trina Solar to develop an Interdigitated Back Contact (IBC) solar cell is set to be commercialised.

PV equipment supplier, Amtech Systems said it had received orders worth around US$10 million from leading PV manufacturers in Korea and Taiwan.

Meyer Burger and CSEM PV Center are establishing the Swiss-Inno HJT Project that will include a pilot line and development program to produce low-cost Heterojunction silicon solar cell technology (HJT).

In a continued effort to return its Energy and Environmental Solutions (EES) division to breakeven, despite two-years of downsizing and restructuring, Applied Materials said it had reduced EES spending per quarter to US$25 million.

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) has ruled that an investigation into anti-dumping and countervailing duties for solar cell products from China and Taiwan will go ahead, following a preliminary phase vote in Washington DC on Friday.

Tier one PV manufacturer, Trina Solar, is acquiring a majority shareholding in Hubei Hongyuan PV Science and Technology, a solar cell producer in China.