PV and electronics equipment manufacturing and automation specialist Manz AG said the 306MW CIGS module production plant for its Chinese partners, the Shanghai Electric Group and the Shenhua Group had started construction on January 4, 2018 and was expected to be completed by the end of third quarter 2018 with production expected to start in the middle of 2019.
Solar PV capital expenditure (capex) covering the midstream segments of the industry (c-Si ingot-to-module and thin-film) is now well into its second major upturn in spending, going into 2018, at a time when the industry is just about to move to a new phase in annual deployment levels of greater than 100GW.
The École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) is proposing the standardization of aging measurements of perovskite solar cells after developing a range of new methods that are claimed to best represent some of the unique characteristics of perovskite materials.
Specialist PV manufacturing equipment supplier Singulus Technologies said that its major CIGS (Copper-Indium-Gallium-Diselenide) thin-film module customer in China, China National Building Materials (CNBM) had secured a minority interest in the company.
Mumbai-based EPC firm Oriano Solar has completed two 20MW solar PV plants for First Solar in the state of Karnataka, in Gadag and Belagavi districts respectively.
An oral hearing for India’s anti-dumping investigation was held on Tuesday, giving a chance for domestic and foreign manufacturers as well as module importers to air their cases.
Plans are in place for a 160MW solar, wind and storage project in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, while a smaller scale demonstration project experimenting with multiple technologies is being developed for Kerala.
Leading thin-film manufacturer First Solar highlighted at its 2017 Analyst Day event that it had recently fabricated the first functional CdTe Series 6 thin-film panel at its Perrysburg, Ohio plant, which is spearheading the transition to the larger format at all of the company’s manufacturing plants based in Malaysia and Vietnam.
Leading thin-film manufacturer First Solar said at its 2017 Analyst Day event that it was already building its second CdTe module plant in Vietnam to support the transition to its Series 6 large format panel.
