cigs thin film

The production volume of solar PV panels based on thin-film deposition of semiconductor materials on large-area glass panels is set to hit a seven-year low in 2017, in spite of the end-market demand for solar panels increasing by a factor of three over the same time period.

PV and electronics equipment manufacturing and automation specialist Manz AG has received €50 million from Chinese JV partners Shanghai Electric Group and Shenhua Group for turnkey CIGS thin-film production lines with a further €79 million also expected in May to start work on its largest ever equipment order.

Dieter Manz, the founder and CEO of tool maker Manz, will step aside taking a role on the company’s supervisory board.

Specialist PV manufacturing equipment supplier Singulus Technologies expects to double sales in 2017 after its new order backlog in 2016 reached €109.9 million, a 310% increase over the previous year.

Solar cells produced using p-type multi c-Si wafers retained their dominant market-share position in 2016, despite significant investments into p-type mono and advanced cell production, such as PERC. The transition to increased mono wafer use is now expected to be seen more clearly during 2017 and 2018, but depends still upon the relative end-market demand from the domestic Chinese market.

PV and electronics equipment manufacturing and automation specialist Manz AG has finally secured the largest equipment order in the history of the company after securing orders for two turnkey CIGS production lines totalling 350MW nameplate capacity with China-based Shanghai Electric Group and Shenhua Group.

Specialist PV manufacturing equipment supplier Singulus Technologies said it had received the next contractually agreed pre-payment from the Chinese state-owned enterprise China National Building Materials (CNBM), owner of CIGS thin-film manufacturer, AVANCIS.

PV and electronics equipment manufacturing and automation specialist Manz AG has said that expected ‘CIGSfab’ purchase orders that would be the largest in the history of the company have been delayed and not expected to be signed in 2016.

Specialist PV manufacturing equipment supplier Singulus Technologies has noted the delay in assembling and commissioning two previously shipped orders to customers that were expected to have been operational in 2016.

Specialist PV manufacturing equipment supplier Singulus Technologies said it had issued new shares valued at around €8 million to provide liquidity for supplying CIGS thin-film production equipment orders and the development of heterojunction (HJ) solar cell processing tools after securing an (MOU) with Golden Concord Holdings, majority share holder in GCL-Poly and GCL System.