Manufacturing

With the aim of achieving 20% conversion efficiencies but with lower material costs, Solliance and imec have demonstrated a CZTSe (Cu2ZnSnSe4)-based thin-film solar cell (1x1cm2, AM1.5G) with 9.7% efficiency.

Module manufacturer Canadian Solar’s project development subsidiary has sold a 10MW solar plant to energy provider TransCanada Corporation.

Having received an unspecified capital injection, CIGS thin-film start-up Solarion has successfully exited insolvency proceedings.

PV Crystalox Solar has sold its polysilicon production operations in Bitterfeld, Germany to the former management team, contributing €12.3 million to the renamed Silicon Products Research Engineering Production in the process.

US-based ultra-thin silicon wafer start-up Crystal Solar is planning to complete pilot production of its ‘Epi Thin-Silicon’ technology this year with volume production targeted sometime in 2014.

Small France-based module manufacturer, Solarezo has entered bankruptcy proceedings in an effort to restructure its finances having a reported €50 million order backlog with only a 65MW production capacity, according to the company’s website.

German solar firm JvG Thoma is to supply an unnamed company with manufacturing equipment for a 10MW PV module plant in Nigeria.

China-based monocrystalline wafer producer, Comtec Solar, is constructing a new wafer plant at the Sama Jaya Free Industrial Zone in Malaysia.

Canadian Solar is to build a new PV module assembly plant to support the build-out of Samsung’s PV project pipeline in Ontario, Canada.

The US Energy Department and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are to develop a US$135 million test centre in Colorado for new utility-scale clean energy grid integration technologies.