Bankrupt PV and sapphire equipment specialist GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) has been able to secure US$95 million of debtor-in-possession financing to provide working capital needs during its Chapter 11 restructuring efforts.
PV and polysilicon equipment specialist centrotherm Group reported a return to profitability in 2014 on the back of recovering sales of €189.2 million, driven by an upturn in revenue from PV equipment sales and progress on building a polysilicon plant in Qatar.
The cost of solar in Japan declined as much as 15% in one year, but a lack of clear policy direction from the government has left a number of businesses with a “pessimistic” outlook of the industry’s future, according to a survey by the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation (JREF).
PV wet chemical equipment and materials supplier, RENA GmbH has changed its name to RENA technologies GmbH and appointed a new CEO as the company prepares to exit insolvency proceedings that will result in Jürgen Gutekunst, founder and former CEO of RENA GmbH leaving the company.
Sweden-based nano-material development firm, Sol Voltaics has claimed a 1-sun record conversion efficiency of 15.3% for a solar cell coated with its gallium-arsenide (GaAs) nanowire array (NWA).
SolarWorld is planning to add a total of 500MW of monocrystalline ingot production at the former Bosch solar manufacturing facilities in Arnstadt, Germany, and upgrade all 700MW of solar cell production at the site to next-generation PERC (passivated emitter rear cell) technology.
UK-based thin-film start-up, Oxford Photovoltaics, has secured at least a further £8 million (US$12.1 million) in venture capital funding to further plans to commercialise its blend of perovskite materials under a licensing model.
