A new organisation aimed at representing the entire PV manufacturing value chain in Europe, from materials and module manufacturers to equipment providers and institutions, is being planned for launch in 2019.
Hanergy Thin Film Power Group has signed a US$130 million, 100MW supply deal with Japanese firm, Forest Group to supply its ‘HanTile’ thin-film solar roof tile systems in the Japanese market.
Perovskite solar cell developer Oxford Photovoltaics (PV) has been awarded a €2.8 million grant from the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy to prepare perovskite-silicon solar cells for high-volume manufacturing.
PV and electronics equipment manufacturing and automation specialist Manz AG has secured another advanced payment for CIGS (Copper, Indium, Gallium, DiSelenide) thin-film manufacturing equipment, which is part of a major production order with Chinese partners, the Shanghai Electric Group and the Shenhua Group.
The US subsidiary of Enel Green Power has teamed with start-up Raptor Maps, Inc., to integrate the use of drones in inspecting PV power plants, while providing immediate data through an AI (artificial intelligence) machine learning algorithm to improve O&M (Operations and Management).
PV inverter manufacturer KACO new energy said it has supplied its string inverters to a 10.2MW solar carport in Turkey as part of a new amusement park near completion in Ankara, Turkey.
Leading CdTe thin-film module manufacturer First Solar has started production of its large-area Series 6 modules at its first manufacturing plant in Malaysia and said it was nearing the start of production at a third facility as new orders in the second quarter almost reached 900MW.
As the solar industry has grown from a 50GW market to 100GW in just a few years, the desire to have differentiated production has increased, especially for companies entering the market or repositioning strategies.
Leading PV manufacturing equipment supplier Meyer Burger has secured an order for its ‘SmartWire Connection Technology’ (SWCT) from an international solar module manufacturer in Southeast Asia for use with heterojunction (HJ) solar cells.
Australian-based PV asset owner of New Energy Solar (NEW) has acquired an 87MW (AC) PV power plant, currently under development from leading CdTe thin-film module manufacturer, First Solar.
Nanoelectronics R&D organisation imec has reported a record 4-terminal Perovskite/silicon tandem photovoltaic cell with a conversion efficiency of 27.1%, while claiming further microcrystal engineering leads a path of efficiencies of over 30%.
German CdTe thin-film module manufacturer Calyxo will resume production after finding a buyer for the business.
India’s Ministry of new and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has issued guidelines on how to conduct testing on solar PV modules in test labs.
German-based laser systems specialist LPKF Laser & Electronics has secured new follow-on orders from a thin-film PV module manufacturer.
US-based PVD thin film materials supplier SCI Engineered Materials has secured its largest ever order valued at around US$2 million from a CIGS (Copper, Indium, Gallium, Selenide) thin-film module manufacturer in China.
