Continuing Kuwait government efforts to build-out a renewable energy mix for the future, Kuwait University (KU) has teamed with European R&D centre, imec on its silicon solar cell industrial affiliation program.
Thermal processing equipment specialist BTU International has selected Peter Tallian to serve in its newly minted chief operating officer position, effective immediately.
Continued restructuring at Applied Materials as it struggles to resize its solar business has led to senior executives Mark Pinto and Tom Edman leaving the company as its EES and Display divisions are merged.
A significant fall in orders and bookings within Manz's solar division were partially offset by increased business within its display division, the specialist equipment supplier has reported.
Challenging competitive market conditions in Europe are forcing SunPower to re-evaluate its business strategy in the region after sales shrank and its European operations were loss-making in the third quarter of 2012.
From the heart of its R&D centre in Rochester, New York, Natcore Technology scientists have developed what they call the “first black silicon solar cell”.
Major PV equipment supplier, centrotherm photovoltaics has submitted its reorganization plans to the insolvency court in Ulm, Germany. Although the company did not provide details on what those plans would be, the company said in a statement that it had now entered a critical phase in its insolvency proceedings that also need creditor approval. Both its subsidiaries, centrotherm thermal solutions and centrotherm SiTec have also filed plans with the court separately.
Continuing to restructure the company in hope of surviving the solar shakeout, major PV equipment specialist centrotherm photovoltaics has made sweeping changes to its senior management with the notable fall of its enigmatic CTO, Dr. Peter Fath. Current CEO, Robert M. Hartung will also step down from his position, while Peter Augustin will become responsible for core solar cell and module business, amongst other management changes.
JA Solar Holdings publicized that its monocrystalline and multicrystalline Cypress solar cells have reached a new high in their average conversion efficiency. The monocrystalline Cypress solar cell reached an average 19.1% efficiency, while the multicrystalline Cypress cell reached 17.4%. The industry average is said to be 18.8% and 17% for monocrystalline and multicrystalline solar cells, respectively.
Despite record cell efficiencies being announced in recent years, just 0.5% of advanced technologies for cell efficiency have been implemented into volume production on an annual basis. A panel session moderated by PV-Tech’s senior editor Mark Osborne, part of the PV Production Forum 2012 at EU PVSEC, discusses the reasons why migration has been so slow.
