China-based polysilicon and multicrystalline wafer producer Daqo New Energy has said it would discontinue its solar wafer manufacturing operations in September, 2018.
Much has been written and voiced over the past couple of months in the PV industry, following the so-called China-531 policy announcement that finally provided a wake-up call to Chinese manufacturers that their domestic end-market was not going to be allowed to maintain its near-exponential growth characteristics.
LONGi Green Energy Technology, the world’s largest dedicated manufacturer of monocrystalline wafers and its subsidiary, LONGi Solar, a member of the ‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) has reported first half year results that included record quarterly shipments, operating income and R&D spending.
China-based integrated polysilicon and merchant cell manufacturer Tongwei Group expects to begin pilot production of heterojunction (HJ) solar cells by the end of 2018, while the success of its 200MW Industry 4.0 fully-automated solar cell production line will lead to a longer-term migration of all cell production to intelligent manufacturing.
Leading ‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member JinkoSolar has reported higher than guided second quarter PV module shipments and reiterated total shipments guidance to be in the range of 11.5GW to 12GW in 2018.
As the solar industry has grown from a 50GW market to 100GW in just a few years, the desire to have differentiated production has increased, especially for companies entering the market or repositioning strategies.
Major China-based PV module manufacturer Risen Energy, which entered PV Tech’s Top 10 module manufacturer’s rankings for the first time in 2017, has recently held a ground-breaking ceremony for its planned 5GW solar module manufacturing base in the Yiwu Information Optoelectronics High-tech Industrial Park, Zhejiang, China.
NOS Microsystems has developed an electronic software delivery (ESD) ecosystem called 'getPlus' that bridges the gap between automation provider and end user by seamlessly integrating into the industrial automation providers’ licensing structures and databases—SAP, Oracle etc…to monitor the status of machines so exact updates, and incompatibility issues are identified. The user-friendly tool helps factories make the transition to industry 4.0.
PV Tech looks at market trends through the eyes of the CEO of DK Electronic Materials (DKEM), a metallization solution provider for high efficiency cells.
PV manufacturing capacity expansion announcements in the first quarter of 2018 continued to follow the strong trend set in the fourth quarter of 2017. The quarter also represented a revival in thin-film expansion plans as well as the return of PV module assembly outpacing solar cell announcements. Also notable was the return of India and the US as major destinations for new capacity plans.
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member, Canadian Solar is set to launch a new range of high-performance multicrystalline modules at Intersolar Europe, designed to capture attention in the utility-scale market.
Researchers at EPFL’s Photovoltaics Laboratory and the CSEM PV-center have reported a record tandem junction solar cell with conversion efficiencies of 25.2%, using a standard monocrystalline cell and an evaporation and spin-on process to fully coat the structure.
France-based specialist PV manufacturing equipment supplier Semco Technologies has announced at SNEC 2018 that its complete suite of PV manufacturing equipment would be spun-off and form a Joint Venture (JV) business in China with Ganshang Technology Group, a Suzhou City-based holding group combining smart economy with industrial investment.
Leading PV manufacturing equipment supplier Meyer Burger has said that the pioneer of heterojunction solar cell technology, Panasonic has decided to fast-track the evaluation of its ‘SmartWire Connection Technology’ (SWCT) in an effort to boost its cell and module performance.
Inline solar cell measurement equipment specialist Aurora Solar Technologies (AST) has secured another ‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member to evaluate its Decima Gemini measurement system and Veritas visualization system for bifacial solar cells.
