A new research program to bring ‘Black Silicon’ antireflective layer process and materials to commercialization has been signed between Natcore Technology and material inventor, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) with funding of US$150,000.
The first roll-to-roll flexible OPV thin film plant using vacuum deposition of oligomers has been officially opened by Heliatek. The €14 million facility in Dresden, Germany has 1 pilot/production line initially with the expectation to launch commercial product offerings in around the third quarter of 2012. The first key market Heliatek is addressing is BIPV and has plans to raise a further €50 million for a full-scale production line. An opening ceremony was attended by the Prime Minister of Saxony, Stanislaw Tillich.
Taiwan-based PV wafer and cell producers are already seeing the benefits from the US anti-dumping duty case, for which the US Department of Commerce has yet to make its final determination on possible countervailing import duties against Chinese PV module producers. According to Jefferies investment bank, sales at Taiwanese solar cell producers have rebounded 29% since the beginning of the year, after sales plummeted as overcapacity and subsequent weak demand resulted in many posting their lowest sales for more than two years.
Pythagoras Solar announced today that it will be participating in the first Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy (CSE) Building Technology Showcase. Said showcase, the first of its kind and designed to demonstrate sustainable building technologies, is located in a research and demonstration site located in a building in Boston’s Innovation District. Pythagoras is among the partners contributing a total of US$2.7 million to building energy technologies and services to the new “living laboratory.”
Milwaukee-based high-efficiency monocrystalline PV module manufacturer, Helios Solar Works is the first founding member of the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing (CASM), outside SolarWorld to declare itself a supporter of actions that will lead to duties being applied to solar cells and modules from China. Seven firms with manufacturing operations in the US were said to have formed CASM and petitioned US agencies to investigate module dumping allegations, though until now, only SolarWorld, which has led the campaign had declared involvement.
A trio of companies is attempting to reduce the waste caused by wafer-sawing processes by growing crystalline silicon on relatively cheap foil. NREL has teamed up with DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and c-Si thin-film technology company Ampulse with the aim of lowering the cost of solar panels.
Having claimed over 55MW of its GIGS thin film product offerings have been installed to data, MiaSolé has secured further funding to the tune of US$55 million from investors to support a focus on what it described as ‘commercial performance.’
Former CPV system manufacturer Energy Innovations will have its assets auctioned off by Heritage Global Partners as an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors. The company was a Poway, California-based HCPV company until insolvency proceedings in the form of liquidation of assets were initiated by its creditors.
The recovery in solar cell shipments continued into February for Taiwan-based crystalline solar cell producer, Neo Solar Power (NSP). The company reported sales of approximately US$34.4 million, compared to US$22 million (NT$850 million) in January and up from NT$663 million in December, 2011 when sales hit a two-year record low.
Impairment charges due to price declines and expected challenging market conditions in 2012 weighed on Q-Cells' preliminary fourth-quarter and full-year results. The company reported a fourth-quarter EBIT loss of approximately €355 million and a full-year 2011 loss of €846 million. Fourth-quarter revenue was €353 million, up significantly from €299 million in the third quarter. Revenue for the year reached €1,023 million.
