Fab & Facilities

PV and polysilicon equipment specialist centrotherm Group reported a return to profitability in 2014 on the back of recovering sales of €189.2 million, driven by an upturn in revenue from PV equipment sales and progress on building a polysilicon plant in Qatar.

Chinese manufacturer Suntech has confirmed that a proposed new manufacturing facility in South Africa remains on hold until details of the fourth round of the country’s national renewable energy programme are finalised.

Polysilicon producer, Silicor Materials, has signed German conglomerate, SMS Siemag, to equip and fit out a planned new low-cost plant in Iceland.

Solarwatt, a German-based module manufacturer, has officially acquired the French subsidiary of German Centrosolar.

Major tier-one PV manufacturer JinkoSolar has finally said its first major overseas solar cell and module manufacturing facility is based in Penang, Malaysia.

PV manufacturing equipment specialist Smit Ovens has filed for bankruptcy in the Netherlands to restructure its operations.

SolarWorld is planning to add a total of 500MW of monocrystalline ingot production at the former Bosch solar manufacturing facilities in Arnstadt, Germany, and upgrade all 700MW of solar cell production at the site to next-generation PERC (passivated emitter rear cell) technology.

SunEdison, the world’s largest renewable energy developer is to purchase diamond wire saw technology from tool maker Meyer Burger.

PV OEM power distribution products producer Bentek has increased its manufacturing capacity by 40% with the opening of a new facility in San Jose, California.

Updated: Hanergy Thin Film Power Group’s thin-film equipment manufacturing subsidiary, Fujian Apollo, has won an order valued at US$660 million to supply 600MW of tools and plant operations to Shangdong Macrolink New Resources Technology Ltd.