The solar industry is set to reach annual demand at the 100GW level much earlier than has been forecast by both third-party observers and the leading component suppliers. During 2018, the solar industry is shaping up to ship more than 100GW of solar modules during the calendar year, while 2017 alone will see the number exceed 90GW comfortably.
Solar PV cell and module ribbon interconnect supplier Ulbrich Solar Technologies has closed its production operations in Hillsboro Oregon, due to operating difficulties of SolarWorld Americas after parent company SolarWorld AG went into insolvency proceedings.
Struggling US-headquartered solar PV encapsulant producer STR Holdings foray into recapturing market share by producing in China has come to an end with the closure of its manufacturing operations in the country.
Avinash Hiranandani, managing director, RenewSys India, discusses the production of 5-busbar (BB) solar PV cells in India and the potential ramifications of the anti-dumping petition recently filed by Indian manufacturers.
Key manufacturing and R&D assets of bankrupt German integrated PV module manufacturer SolarWorld AG have been acquired by its former founder and chairman, Dr. Ing. Eh Frank Asbeck.
Nanoelectronics research centre imec has taken a perovskite/silicon tandem mini-module-on-cell stack to a record 23.9% conversion efficiency, significantly exceeding its 20.2% efficiency figures reported in 2016.
Specialist solar PV equipment supplier centrotherm has warned that it is unlikely to be profitable in 2017, due to the loss of an arbitration case against a cancelled €290 million integrated (wafer/cell/module) plant in Algeria.
Having just completed its first ‘Solar Roof’ tile system installations in the US, Tesla said in reporting second quarter 2017 financial results that production of the roofing tiles would not enter mass production at its Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo, New York until the end of 2017.
Specialist semiconductor and PV equipment supplier Intevac expects to start shipping its largest ever single tool order to a customer in China planning to ramp N-type mono IBC (Interdigitated Back Contact) solar cells and modules, including bifacial modules in the second half of 2017.
