Stocks in a large-number of PV companies were heavily sold-off last Friday on the same day erroneous market forecasts for PV demand in China and misinterpretation of recent Chinese Government agencies commitment targets for the sector in 2014 emerged.
Hanergy Solar has said it will start construction of a planned 3GW CIGS thin-film manufacturing complex in Caofeidian, Hebei Province, China in March 2014 with tool install starting by the end of the year.
Chinese manufacturer, Hanergy, could build a US$500 million thin-film PV factory in the Ivory Coast, according to the country’s government and a statement released by the company.
Sharp Corporation is planning to stop PV module assembly production at its plant in Memphis, Tennessee by the end of March 2014, according to reports citing company officials.
JA Solar and Powerway have formed a joint venture to establish a PV module assembly plant in Port Elizabeth, South Africa with an initial nameplate capacity of 150MW.
US-based PV module encapsulant supplier, STR Holdings, is to renovate its leased facility in Suzhou and seek further outsourced manufacturing arrangements with third parties.
An Australian engineer has been awarded £300,000 (US$493,000) by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) for his work on increasing the efficiency of solar PV whilst lowering costs.