Sweden-based solar cell nanowire materials start-up Sol Voltaics has secured US$21.3 million in a new funding round just a month after claiming a key breakthrough in commercializing its gallium arsenide (GaAs) nanowire film for crystalline silicon solar cells.
Leading polysilicon and solar wafer producer GCL-Poly Energy Holdings has sold a 10% share in its planned 60,000MT polysilicon plant in Xinjiang, China for around US$22 million (RMB 150 million) to monocrystalline wafer producer Tianjin Zhonghuan Semiconductor Co.
Enel Green Power’s a-Si thin-film module manufacturing subsidiary, 3SUN is hoping to obtain a €14.1 million grant from Italy’s national agency for attracting investment and enterprise development, Invitalia to support the purchase of heterojunction (HJ) solar cell tools to switch production to the higher efficiency silicon technology.
The leading mono-crystalline solar cell and module manufacturer LONGi Solar has introduced its first high-performance mono-PERC (Pasivated Emitter Rear Cell) bifacial module series that comes in both 60-cell and 72-cell configurations. LONGi Solar's 365W Hi-MO2 module has reached mass production.
Taiwan-based cell and module producer Neo Solar Power (NSP) said it would be deploying for the first time its P-type mono bifacial PERC modules, ‘Glory BiFi’ on a 2MW commercial rooftop in Taiwan.
US-Based wafer producer 1366 Technologies said that a small 500kW PV power plant in Hyōgo, Japan is the first commercial usage of its ‘Direct Wafer’ technology outside several test sites in the US, Germany and Japan.
PV prices have plummeted in recent years but predicting the exact costs in the future seems like an impossible task. KT Tan of Viridian Solar presents one equation that would appear to be able to do just that.
Dedicated N-type monocrystalline module manufacturer Jolywood (Taizhou) Solar Technology Co. Ltd (Jolywood) said it had collaborated with TUV NORD and the National Center of Supervision and Inspection on Solar Photovoltaic Product Quality (CPVT) to establish a preliminary testing standard for bifacial solar modules.
Organised by Fraunhofer CSE in partnership with Royal DSM and Greentown Labs, the SunRISE TechBridge Challenge II had selected four early-stage companies from 56 applications to be given support in bringing their technology to market faster.
