Thin-Film

Analysts have predicted slow growth for India’s solar market this year due to delays in implementing its waning national solar mission.

First Solar has reported a world record for a CdTe solar cell with a conversion efficiency of 20.4%.

Leading CIS thin-film PV module manufacturer, Solar Frontier reported its first annual profit in 2013, fuelled by the boom in the Japanese market.

US-based start-up, Siva Power formerly Solexant, has reported a CIGS cell efficiency of 18.8% that it claims was verified by NREL in December 2013.

Tokyo Electron (TEL) has announced plans to discontinue its ‘micromorph’ turnkey thin-film production line operations, which it acquired after buying Oerlikon Solar in 2012.

Hanergy Solar has said it will start construction of a planned 3GW CIGS thin-film manufacturing complex in Caofeidian, Hebei Province, China in March 2014 with tool install starting by the end of the year.

Chinese manufacturer, Hanergy, could build a US$500 million thin-film PV factory in the Ivory Coast, according to the country’s government and a statement released by the company.

First Solar said it had started construction of a 22MW PV power plant in Pecos County, Texas.

Chinese state-owned PV manufacturer, CECEP Solar Energy Technology has used upgrades for Applied Materials ‘Baccini Esatto’ screen printers to produce average multicrystalline solar cell conversion efficiencies of 18.32%.

Hanergy Group has secured financing from several Chinese banks totalling around 20 billion yuan (US$3.3 billion), according to reports, as it looks to become a major PVEP (PV Energy Provider) employing a-Si and CIGS thin-film technology for downstream PV power plants.