One of the last remaining a-Si thin-film manufacturing plants in production globally and the last in Germany is to close with the loss of 160 jobs at Masdar PV in Ichterhausen.
PV equipment specialist, Meyer Burger Technology is streamlining its R&D activities at its Roth & Rau subsidiaries technology and product centre in Hohenstein-Ernstthal, Germany with the loss of around 120 positions.
Major monocrystalline wafer producer, LONGi Silicon Materials is entering the PV module market to demonstrate and promote the significant cost reductions achieved in monocrytalline wafer production and highlight the performance and life-time yield superiority of monocrystalline products over multicrystalline.
Non-silicon mono wafer costs are plummeting and could challenge the predominance of monocrystalline silicon wafers, according to the head of a leading Chinese wafer producer.
PV equipment supplier, Amtech Systems is highlighting two new innovations at SNEC 2014 that include its ‘SPECTRE’ PECVD system after several new order wins for passivation and anti-reflective coating processes using the technology.
Centrotherm expects the PV manufacturing sector to continue to be focus on both cost pressure and efficiency improvements during SNEC 2014 in Shanghai this week.
PV equipment suppliers, RENA and SoLayTec said they had shipped their 10th ‘InPassion’ system to a tier-1 fully integrated PV manufacturer based in China for monocrystalline solar cells.
Thermal processing equipment specialist, BTU International is introducing its new Stacked Wafer Inline Furnace Technology (SWIFT) on its ‘Meridian’ platform at SNEC, 2014.
According to NPD Solarbuzz, Sharp Corporation shipped the highest volume of PV modules in the world in the first quarter of 2014, something it has been unable to achieve in the last five years.
Last week, GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) reported first quarter sales of only US$23 million, which included US$13 million in sales from its PV segment and US$4 million from its Polysilicon segment.
