This week's Movers & Shakers segment sees big waves in Europe with a new president for SolarPower Europe and Lightsource hiring a new strategy officer in its move to evolve from a pure solar company to a global energy leader. There's resignations in some of Asia's biggest module manufacturers including Trina Solar and Yingli Green, and the Coalition for Community Solar Access celebrates its first anniversary and talks to PV Tech on how to keep the community solar boom going.
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.
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.
At the start of each year, when market observers do their annual look at the year ahead, there is normally always a vague statement about some type of widespread consolidation of companies set to unfold.
Struggling flexible CIGS thin-film consumer product producer Ascent Solar Technologies could be on the uptick with new US$20 million funding from Hong Kong Boone Group, an Asian strategic investor.
Leading thin-film specialist First Solar will transfer its existing business development resources in Turkey to Turkish industrial conglomerate Zorlu Solar and will close its Istanbul office.
US-based start-up WattGlass has secured a Series A round of funding led by material sciences firm, DSM that was said to support its efforts to commercialise its anti-reflective and anti-soiling coating for PV panels.
As part of the US Department Of Energy’s (DOE) Sunshot Initiative and led by SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly), the U.S. Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium have announced the launch of the Solar Energy Optimization Testkit, a new set of evaluation capabilities for photovoltaic systems.