PV equipment specialist Despatch Industries is set to launch its new Safire firing furnace and accompanying dryer technology at EU PVSEC in Frankfurt, Germany next week. The company also noted that PV manufacturer, Nice Sun PV Co had completed high-volume production testing of the Safire furnace that demonstrated a 0.1% absolute improvement in overall efficiency on a baseline product and up to 0.13% on some product types.
In keeping with recent years, Taiwan-based solar cell manufacturer Neo Solar Power (NSP) is launching several new cells that follow a different path to high-efficiency, while claiming to be the low-cost option. Being showcased at EU PVSEC in Frankfurt next week is NSP’s polycrystalline Super18 solar cell and its mono-crystalline Black19+ with a maximum efficiency of 19.4%, all accomplished without the use of selective emitters or rear-side passivation technologies.
Bisol advised that it has made a €1.5 million investment for the three-phase automation of its production facility. The process, which it speculates will increase its production capacity by nearly 10%, is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Modernization of its production facility began this past summer. Bisol noted that its project was not financed by any European or governmental subsidies.
Stefan Quandt, BMW board member and one of the richest people in the world, according to the Forbes list of billionaires, will become the majority owner of German-based PV module manufacturer, Solarwatt which is currently insolvency proceedings since mid-June.
Dealing with the acute lack of capital spending across the PV supply chain, major equipment supplier Meyer Burger is consolidating its production and technology operations after several years of leading an acquisition trail. The company said it would focus operations at four main production locations and two solar technology centres worldwide.
E.ON Climate & Renewables is heading to bigger pastures. The company advised that it is expanding its US solar operations and moving its global solar headquarters to San Francisco, California’s Financial District. EC&R expects for its relocation to be completed in October.
Boosting its presence in the South Korean markets for RF generation and monitoring systems for the solar photovoltaic, semiconductor, flat panel display and AMOLED industry sectors, MKS Instruments has acquired Plasmart, Inc, based in Daejeon, South Korea, in a cash transaction that wasn’t disclosed.
After several years of rapid price declines for conventional crystalline silicon solar modules, CIGS (copper indium gallium selenium) thin-film technology hasn’t been immune from the ‘solar shakout,’ despite its inherent capabilities to provide high conversion efficiency and low-cost production. Solyndra, Odersun, Soltecture, Global Solar Energy, Solibro and MiaSolé are companies that pioneered CIGS adoption but have either failed or now seek new partners to continue operations.
With the 27th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (27th EU PVSEC) just around the corner on September 24-28, the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) has announced a string of high level speakers for its events at this year’s conference.
Updated: After much media speculation that South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group had been in negotiations to acquire PV manufacturer Q-Cells, a deal has been struck according to a brief statement issued late Sunday evening. However, the deal still requires the approval of creditors, which the insolvency administrator Henning Schorisch said would be sought at a meeting on August 29.
