Crystal growth equipment supplier GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) is re-entering the Directional Solidification System (DSS) furnace market for multicrystalline ingot production with the launch of a new product offering.
Sweden-based thin-film production equipment specialist Midsummer said it had secured a second ‘DUO’ flexible CIGS (copper, indium, gallium and selenium) thin-film solar cell sputtering tool order from an existing customer based in Asia.
R&D group Solliance, which includes ECN, imec, TNO, Holst Centre and industrial partners such as Nano-C, Solartek, DyeSol and Panasonic have succeeded in producing a record 10% aperture area power conversion efficiency for an ‘up-scaled’ thin-film perovskite photovoltaic module.
The world’s largest polysilicon producer, GCL-Poly Energy has cited technical issues with its planned ramp of FBR (Fluidized Bed Reactor) technology, according to reports.
Oil and gas company Total has proposed to buy battery company Saft, which produces devices for the stationary storage industry as well as for transport and other applications.
Specialist PV manufacturing equipment supplier Amtech Systems reported continued success in securing new solar equipment orders in its second fiscal quarter of 2016, the highest bookings since the March quarter of 2011.
Global maker of construction and mining equipment Caterpillar has launched an integrated micro-grid solution which combines solar PV and energy storage with the company’s power generation equipment.
SolarCity, best known for its services in the US for providing residential and commercial rooftop solar, announced a new set of services targeted at utility and grid operators on Thursday.
LayTec has introduced the first commercially available system for simulation and monitoring of LID (Light Induced Degredation). ‘LID Scope’ is a table-top system that helps to quantify the expected performance loss of any solar cell directly at the production line or in the lab. The tool performs accelerated or real-life degradation tests fully automatically. It is claimed to deliver highly reproducible results and a permanent monitoring of Voc changes by integrated metrology.
