Thin-Film

The use of third-party cell and module sourcing has seen a massive uptick in the solar industry, during the past 2-3 years. The appetite of leading global module suppliers to rely on outsourced cells and modules has been clear to see in the past 12-18 months, but tends to go through almost quarterly tactical adjustments, often driven by factors that are potentially creating risk for long-term downstream asset holders of utility-scale sites.

PV Tech’s new two-day event PV ModuleTech 2017 – in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 7-8 November 2017 – is set to outline the key issues in new high-efficiency PV modules that will dominate utility-scale solar farms deployment globally over the period 2018-2020.

Automotive giant Audi AG and thin-film solar manufacturer Hanergy, via its US-based subsidiary Alta Devices have signed an MOU in respect of a development agreement to provide its electric vehicles with gallium arsenide (GaAs) flexible thin film based solar system integrated into a range of planned electric vehicles.

The second installment of our latest two-part blog on PV Tech, presenting the latest findings of the PV Tech in-house market research team, with all data and graphics shown in this blog coming from the August 2017 release of our PV Manufacturing & Technology Quarterly report.

Sweden-based flexible CIGS thin film solar cell equipment supplier Midsummer has received a follow-on order from an undisclosed customer.

A key factor in the strong growth of the PV industry in 2017 is the Silicon Module Super League (or SMSL), comprised of the seven companies that will each ship in excess of 4GW of modules this year, well above all other module suppliers to the industry.

Leading up to the PV ModuleTech 2017 conference, less than 3 months away (Kuala Lumpur, 7-8 November 2017), this blog series explains why this dedicated two-day industry event has the potential to provide some key answers for EPCs, developers and asset owners, in terms of understanding the key metrics that underpin solar modules going forward, ultimately mitigating risks during site design and build-out, while optimizing overall return-on-investment for more than 20 years in the field. READ PART ONE HERE

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.

Leading CdTe thin-film module manufacturer First Solar has secured a 241MW module supply contract with Australian EPC firm, RCR Tomlinson. The latest contract is for two major PV power plant projects, bringing its contracted business in the country to over 500MW in the next 12 months.

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.

PV and electronics equipment manufacturing and automation specialist Manz AG said it expected to generate revenue of at least €350 million in 2017, including significantly improved and positive EBIT as it starts execution of its large CIGS thin-film orders.

Specialist solar PV equipment supplier centrotherm International has reported first half 2017 photovoltaics and semiconductor segment equipment order backlog of nearly €141 million as well as securing CIGS thin-film tool orders from Manz for turnkey line projects in China.

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.

Leading thin-film PV manufacturer First Solar raised both shipments and revenue expectations for 2017 after reporting net sales of US$623 million in the second quarter of 2017, down from US$892 million in the previous quarter.

China has responded to India’s initiation of an anti-dumping investigation relating to solar cells and module imports from China, Taiwan and Malaysia, labelling it an “abuse of trade remedy measures”, but also seeking to cooperate in resolving the trade issue.