Over and over again, at last week’s PV Expo trade show in Tokyo, PV Tech heard that those that will survive in Japan’s PV market will be the ones in it for the long haul. Andy Colthorpe spoke to industry observers and participants to get an inside look.
Specialist PV manufacturing equipment supplier Amtech Systems highlighted the confidence it had in a series of major new orders for high-efficiency n-type PERC and n-type bi-facial cell equipment including the first of a multi-phase 1GW turnkey project order during the reporting of its first 2017 fiscal quarter.
Specialist PV manufacturing equipment supplier Amtech Systems has reported new solar orders since the end of September, 2016 have topped US$60 million, driven by PV manufacturers in China, Malaysia and Taiwan.
Aurora Solar Technologies has introduced an enhanced version of its ‘Decima’ inline measurement system for quality control of bi-facial solar cells during production. ‘Decima Gemini’ consists of a specialized pair of Decima CD measurement heads that enables the sheet resistance of the wafers' back-surface field and emitter to be measured accurately and simultaneously.
Headquartered in California, Sunpreme has launched the Maxima GxB380 SM, 380W, touted as the most advanced high efficiency bifacial panels with integrated a TIGO optimizer and uses its proprietary ‘Hybrid Cell Technology’ (HCT) platform.
Fraunhofer ISE said it was spearheading the largest research project (APV-Resola) in Germany to establish whether the dual use of land for the production of electricity using photovoltaic (PV) modules can be commercially viable with a range of crops grown on the same land.
The annual US-based Solar Power International (SPI) exhibition and conference historically generates a significant number of new product launches and can set new trends and directions for the downstream solar PV sector, globally. High-efficiency modules and high-voltage were the themes of new products announced at SPI on the second day.
Hybrid amorphous Si thin-film module producer Sunpreme said had completed deployment of 12.8MW utility-scale project in the Eastern region of the US, using its bifacial double glass GxB370W panels, with 21.5% cell efficiency.
SolarWorld has launched a new era of modules for free-field and flat roof systems. The new ‘Sunmodule Bisun’ is a solar module active on both sides (bifacial) that converts light from all directions into electrical energy. This ensures up to 25 % more yield per installed kWp, depending on the surface on which it is installed. The modules are expected to be provided in 270Wp through 331Wp configurations. SolarWorld has also developed a new racking system for flat roofs that is optimized for the bifacial technology.
Leading PV manufacturing equipment supplier, Meyer Burger has secured a CHF 22 million (US$22.5 million) order from Russia-based integrated solar module manufacturer to convert to heterojunction (HJ) and bifacial cell production and ‘SmartWire’ module assembly.
