Materials

Taiwan-based merchant solar cell and module producer Neo Solar Power (NSP) is to phase-out production of multicrystalline products and switch completely to monocrystalline production, according to local news reports.

In this week's Movers & Shakers, PV Tech investigates Bill Gates' US$1 billion clean energy fund Breakthrough Energy Ventures, by speaking to new Science lead Eric Toone. We also report on Glasspoint Solar and Lark Energy's US expansions, new executive appointments in Asian firms Kyocera and 3TIER India, and thousands of energy jobs in the pipeline in the wake of Spain's renewable energy tenders.

Swiss-based PV manufacturing equipment specialist INDEOtec SA has secured a new order for a combined OCTOPUS II – PECVD/PVD deposition system for high-efficiency and heterojunction solar cell development from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia.

Swiss-based PV manufacturing equipment specialist INDEOtec SA has been carving out a key role in the emerging PECVD-PVD deposition market for next-generation heterojunction (HJ) solar cells. INDEOtec had been a key sponsor of the inaugural PV CellTech conference in 2016 and once again has chosen the event to be a major showcase for its technology and expertise.

Panasonic’s solar manufacturing deal with Tesla at the former SolarCity 1GW solar cell and module assembly plant at RiverBend, Buffalo, New York State, which was recently renamed Gigafactory 2 by Tesla is to be ramped to its 1GW nameplate capacity exclusively by Panasonic in 2019.

SCHMID Group is one of the key sponsors of PV CellTech 2017, a company with over 1,200 employees and five production facilities around the world. A private company since its establishment in 1864 - means its involvement in the PV industry is relatively new but its position as one of the leading solar cell processing equipment and automation specialists is well recognised.

China-based high-efficiency monocrystalline module producer Shanghai Aerospace Automobile Electromechanical Co (HT-SAAE) has launched several new products that include a 60-cell 300W module with a cell efficiency of 21.2% that is in production.

With the industry’s leading PV manufacturing event, PV CellTech 2017, just a few weeks away on 14-15 March 2017 in Penang, Malaysia, PV-Tech took the opportunity to speak with the Chairman of the Technical Advisory Board, Finlay Colville, on what we can expect to learn from the event this year.

US-headquartered high-efficiency PV module producer SunPower has officially signed a new joint venture partnership in China to produce both solar cells and modules for its P-Series technology.

Leading integrated monocrystalline PV manufacturer Xi'an LONGi Silicon Materials has officially changed its name in China.