Manufacturing

Major PV equipment supplier Meyer Burger is to supply French research centre, Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) with equipment to develop high performance heterojunction (HJT) cells and Meyer Burger’s SmartWire Connection technology (SWCT).

Destined for the US market, long-term manufacturing partner of SunEdison, Flextronics has started producing solar modules at its facility in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Major tier-1 PV manufacturer JA Solar said its chief technology officer Yong Liu had resigned from the company, effective March 31, 2015.

Japan-based CIS thin-film module manufacturer Solar Frontier said it had completed the construction of its Tohoku Plant in March 2015 as expected and plans to start ramping production immediately.

One of Japan’s largest trading companies, Marubeni, which is already involved in both upstream and downstream sectors of PV industry, has entered the domestic market for residential solar.

PV equipment specialist InnoLas Solutions said it had so far received orders equating to almost 1GW of production capacity for its laser systems used for PERC solar cell processing.

PV module supplier Innotech Solar has filed for insolvency blaming uncertainty in the European market for its troubles.

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.