Manufacturing

GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) has secured a major US$336 million polysilicon equipment and technology deal with Cosmos Chemicals Berhad as part of plans to build a 25,000MT integrated polysilicon plant in Sarawak, Malaysia.

Solar power production in California hit a new record on 8 March 2014, as output peaked at 4,093MW.

JA Solar’s PV module shipments are projected to grow at a strong 44% CAGR through 2015, according to ROTH Capital equity analyst, Philip Shen.

Indian PV manufacturer Indosolar has asked to have its debt restructured because it says low equipment prices mean it is unable to make a profit.

Flexible CIGS thin-film firm, Ascent Solar surpassed US$1 million in annual revenue for the second time since it started operations in 2005.

Wuxi Suntech is currently upgrading cell and module production lines in China ahead of plans to increase in-house module capacity in 2014, according to its recently appointed CEO, Eric Luo.

Guam is finally beginning its first foray into the renewable energy sector, as NRG Solar and Boeing announced that construction had begun on Dandan, a 25MW solar power plant.

Trina Solar reached PV module shipments in 2013 of approximately 2.58GW, over 1GW above shipment levels achieved in 2012. Due to expected strong demand in 2014, the company guided shipments to increase a further 1GW to between 3.6GW to 3.8GW.

SunEdison is teaming with the Global Academy of Technology (GAT) based in Bangalore to create a research and development facility at the college's Bengaluru campus.

Having worked with the Australian National University (ANU), the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) and PV Lighthouse, a two-year R&D program with Trina Solar to develop an Interdigitated Back Contact (IBC) solar cell is set to be commercialised.