Overcapacity in the c-Si ingot/wafer supply chain has forced materials specialist, Cookson to close one of its two ingot crucible production plants in China, with immediate effect. The company had closed a similar plant in the Czech Republic in July 2012, which has supplied crucibles, primarily to the European market. Major European-based ingot/wafer producers such as PV Crystalox are down below 30% capacity utilization on the back of weak demand.
SolarCity has expanded its presence in the northeast with new locations in New York’s Westchester County and Long Island joining its recently magnified Albany operations centre.
JA Solar Holdings publicized that its monocrystalline and multicrystalline Cypress solar cells have reached a new high in their average conversion efficiency. The monocrystalline Cypress solar cell reached an average 19.1% efficiency, while the multicrystalline Cypress cell reached 17.4%. The industry average is said to be 18.8% and 17% for monocrystalline and multicrystalline solar cells, respectively.
French trade union the CGT has expressed concern over the proposed idling of module production at Bosch’s Vénissieux plant in France for two weeks at the end of October.
Having entered the Japanese PV market in August, NexPower Technology has announced a 2MW order of its Xtreme+ Series modules for various projects in western Japan. The modules will be distributed via its Japanese distributor, Marubun Corporation. NexPower states that its Xtreme+ Series complies with Japanese JPEC standard as well as being both UL and CEC registered.
Already incorrectly type-cast by the mainstream media as the illegitimate love child of failed copper indium gallium di selenide (CIGS) thin-film manufacturer, Solyndra, flexible CIGS thin-film start-up SoloPower has officially opened its first volume production plant in Portland, Oregon. Unlike other CIGS start-ups, SoloPower uses proprietary roll-to-roll processes via electro-deposition processing as its differentiator.
Despite several start-up firm failures and an over-hyped sector, the concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) market is forecast to grow significantly over the next four years, according to the latest report from IMS Research, part of IHS. Though building from a small base, CPV installations are set to almost double in 2012 to around 90MW with a commercial value of US$325 million. By 2016 the market is expected to reach almost 1.2GW.
Despite record cell efficiencies being announced in recent years, just 0.5% of advanced technologies for cell efficiency have been implemented into volume production on an annual basis. A panel session moderated by PV-Tech’s senior editor Mark Osborne, part of the PV Production Forum 2012 at EU PVSEC, discusses the reasons why migration has been so slow.
Independently verified by the ISE CalLab, SCHMID Group is championing 20.74% efficiency level for a PERC cell using its APCVD tool, which is being showcased at EU PVSEC, in Frankfurt this week. The cells employed a screen printed 3 busbar frontside, using Cz-Si wafers.
Having launched the ‘Vinspec Solar’ inspection system at the beginning of the year, Vitronic is using EU PVSEC this week to reiterate the need to make manual checking a thing of the past.
