Fraunhofer ISE spin-off, NexWafe has secured a new round of funding from Wermuth Asset Management, which will be used for commissioning a pilot line in Freiburg, Germany to produce ‘EpiWafer’ substrates for verification and qualification for potential solar manufacturing customers.
The European Union solar market grew by 36% in 2018 and very strong demand for PV in Europe is expected in the next two years, said trade group SolarPower Europe.
Major polysilicon producer Wacker Chemie has reported its polysilicon division was heavily impacted by the slump in demand due to China’s ‘531 New Deal’ as a reason for the sharp decline in revenue and profitability which declined significantly in 2018.
Chinese module manufacturer Astronergy will close its Frankfurt production facility with the loss of 200 jobs. The site will, however, be repurposed into a sales and service hub for the European market.
PV inverter supplier SMA Solar is to lay off 425 full-time staff and discontinue China as a location as part of a restructuring plan announced in September in order to return the company to profitability quickly.
Jinergy gets bifacial HJ modules approved for UAE projects, while
LONGi teams with BayWa r.e. on global distribution deal and JinkoSolar supplies 132MW of modules to Swinerton for Nevada project.
Leading PV manufacturing equipment supplier Meyer Burger has announced a new restructuring program, which is intended to bring its breakeven level to around CHF 250 million per annum.
