PV Tech’s preliminary analysis of global solar PV manufacturing capacity expansion announcements in the first quarter of 2017, show a strong rebound compared to the significantly subdued environment experienced in the second half of 2016.
Chinese automotive to renewable energy technology company BYD has officially opened its first solar module assembly plant in Brazil with a nameplate capacity of 200MW that will include glass/glass modules.
Alfartec has introduced its BlueSky-MT240 solar simulator to the market that is based on LED and Halogen technologies, making it ideal for production, research and certification centers, globally. Its long flash duration up to 500 millisecondes and short cycle time are suitable for all module technologies.
Bankrupt US solar module start-up Beamreach Solar’s pilot production line in Milpitas, California is being offered for sale by Silicon Valley Disposition (SVD).
After several months of lacklustre sales from many key PV manufacturers in Taiwan, indicating an expected boom in China’s downstream PV market had yet to gain momentum, March sales data indicates improving market demand, yet not at the levels seen in the prior year quarter.
Dedicated PV quality assurance services firm STS-Certified said it had performed quality inspection services on solar modules totalling over 1.5GW in 2016, with the expectation of almost 3.0GW of inspections in 2017.
China-based PV manufacturer Yingli Green Energy and industrial technology partners, Dutch research centre ECN and equipment manufacturer Tempress, a subsidiary of Amtech Systems have fabricated their first IBC (Interdigitated Back Contact) n-type solar cells on 6-inch monocrystalline wafers at the manufacturer's pilot line in China.
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.
Monocrystalline wafer producer Comtec Solar Systems Group has more than doubled expected losses for 2016, due to further write-downs on its Malaysia manufacturing facility with the pending sale of the facility to leading mono wafer supplier, LONGi Green Energy Technology.
