A commercial partner RD&E program going back to 2012, between Fraunhofer ISE and Bystronic glass is being touted as serious candidate to be the future of high-volume and lower cost PV module assembly that overcomes current dual-glass frameless product offerings.
PV Tech’s preliminary analysis of global PV manufacturing capacity expansion announcements in January, 2017 have remained subdued and continue the trend set in the second-half of 2016.
In this week's Movers & Shakers, PV Tech reports mostly on good news, with new appointments in sales, public policy, asset management and business development. However, Texas' Mission Solar Energy has announced its second wave of big job cuts - this time slashing 170 jobs as the company realigns its objectives to purely module assembly.
PV manufacturing equipment specialist SCHMID Group has launched a new texturing tool for diamond-wire-cut multi-c-Si wafers that has already secured orders in the 500MW range and expects significant order intake through the first half of 2017.
Sweden-based thin-film equipment specialist Midsummer AB said it had received an order from an undisclosed customer based in Asia for its CIGS, ‘DUO’ solar cell sputtering tool.
British and Spanish-owned solar company PS Renewables has responded to the growth of its development business in the north east of America by opening a new office in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Brussels-headquartered consultancy and software service company 3E Data Services has launched a satellite-based solar irradiance mapping service which can be used to assess the likely profitability and performance of planned solar PV projects.
This week's segment mainly focuses on career moves in the US - featuring some of the nation's biggest energy players, including SunPower, NEXTracker and the SEIA. There is also news from key energy agencies including the IEA, FERC and the New York PSC.
