wafer

With cell producers increasingly focusing on improved efficiencies and yields, line optimization upgrades are coming to the fore. PV Tech caught up with Steve Mcdonald, vice president, application engineering at inline solar cell measurement equipment specialist Aurora Solar Technologies, to discuss some of the industry trends.

Some of the industry is at loggerheads and many feel local manufacturing must be intrinsic to the 100GW by 2022 solar target, but the value of trade duties is under dispute.

US-based wafer producer 1366 Technologies and ‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member Hanwha Q CELLS have announced a new cells record of 20.3% using direct wafer technology.

PV CellTech 2017 is almost upon us, and the speaker agenda is finalized, including the elite of c-Si wafer and cell manufacturing. The event takes place in Penang, Malaysia, on 14-15 March 2017. In preparation for the event, PV Tech checked in with LONGi’s presenter at PV CellTech, Xie Tian, on what we could expect to hear from his opening talk on 14 March.

European sustainable energy innovation company InnoEnergy has invested €2 million in solar wafer epitaxial growth technology by NexWafe that increases the efficiency of solar cell manufacturing.

US-Based wafer producer 1366 Technologies and ‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member Hanwha Q CELLS have jointly hit a new record of 19.6% efficiency for cells using the 'Direct wafer' process.

PV manufacturing equipment supplier Meyer Burger expects to post a half year profit, according to its preliminary results for H1 2016.

PV wafer and module manufacturer ReneSola reported first quarter 2016 results inline with guidance as the company continues to shift away from its OEM module business and focus on downstream PV power plant projects.

Chinese integrated PV manufacturers Renesola and Jinko Solar have announced module supply deals of 81.5MW and 49MW respectively for projects in their domestic territory.

The Government of India is considering supporting polysilicon, ingot and wafer production in India as part of prime minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ programme, that was launched last year.