US-headquartered high-efficiency PV module producer SunPower Corp has completed the acquisition of SolarWorld Americas from German insolvency court and administrators, securing the future of the solar cell and module assembly operations of the Hillsboro, Oregon plant.
European research and innovation hub centre imec has detailed a path for its nPERT (n-type Passivated Emitter and Rear Totally diffused) solar cell technology to reach conversion efficiencies in excess of 24% for volume production applications.
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member JA Solar has supplied modules to Bangladesh's first large-scale solar power plant (28MW), which had been connected to the utility grid in September 2018.
Not enough bidders turned up for Solar Energy Corporation of India’s (SECI) tender for 3GW of solar manufacturing linked with 10GW of projects and the deadline has been extended to 12 October.
A new organisation aimed at representing the entire PV manufacturing value chain in Europe, from materials and module manufacturers to equipment providers and institutions, is being planned for launch in 2019.
India-based module manfacturer Vikram Solar has shipped 52.6MW of solar modules to South Carolina-based developer Southern Current for a ground-mount project in the US.
Major solar PV materials firm Heraeus Photovoltaics has teamed with PV ribbon manufacturer Ulbrich Solar Technologies to produce a new line of Heraeus’ patented advanced ‘Selectively Coated Ribbons’ (SCR) for module manufacturing customers.
The MIP is no longer with us but some European manufacturers did manage to outlive it. Happily, a culture of innovation and a political will to support the sector could breathe new life into it.
Finlay Colville summarises the updated analysis by our in-house research team at PV-Tech, where we have adjusted our models and forecasts for the 20 companies active in Taiwan today producing ingots, wafers, cells and modules.