Manufacturing

Germany-based PV module manufacturer Heckert Solar said was expanding production capacity to around 300MW to improve cost competitiveness.

DuPont Microcircuit Materials (DuPont) said it had recently collaborated with PV module manufacturer REC Solar in bringing its ‘TwinPeak’ module to market.

Metallisation paste producer Heraeus Photovoltaics has partnered with Taiwan-based solar cell producer Sunrise Global Solar Energy, a subsidiary of wafer producer Sino-American Silicon Products to maximise cell conversion efficiencies of its monocrystalline PERC cells beyond 21%.

SolarMax branded string and central inverters are being once again in production, though not in Switzerland its former home.

Taiwan-based merchant solar cell producer Neo Solar Power Corporation (NSP) has reached a new monocrystalline solar cell conversion efficiency milestone.

Following a week in which SolarCity and then Panasonic both claimed to have achieved record efficiencies, SunPower has hit back, saying its products are “the most efficient solar panels commercially available today”.

Korean-based equipment supplier WONIK IPS has developed a turnkey CIGS thin-film technology from previous collaborations with Samsung. WONIK IPS has taken over all of the CIGS technology and IP acquired by Samsung SDI during its intensive and long-running CIGS R&D development phase.

Major merchant solar cell producer Gintech Energy Corp has reported a 3% consecutive monthly slip in sales.

The three-busbar solar cell patent infringement case brought by Kyocera against Hanwha Q CELLS has been settled out of court.

Leading CIS thin-film producer Solar Frontier is expecting to supply a total of 10MW of modules to Netherlands-based distributor, Home-NRG in 2015, due to strong demand.