Having acquired amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin-film equipment supplier Oerlikon Solar for over US$280 million in 2012, Tokyo Electron (TEL) has made an impairment charge on the operations of around US$214 million, revaluing the operations at around US$71 million.
A major Korea-based PV module manufacturer has placed an initial order with Spire Corporation for advanced test and metrology equipment as part of a capacity expansion programme.
Government-owned Puerto Rican electric power company Autoridad de Energia Electrica (AEE) has made it mandatory for developers of renewable energy projects to incorporate energy storage into new installations.
Chinese PV manufacturer Goldpoly New Energy Holdings has continued the expansion of its downstream business with the acquisition of a Zhongli Talesun subsidiary and with it 180MW worth of PV projects.
Hanergy subsidiary, Solibro, has made a significant step forward in its sub-module (5x5cm2) lab produced copper-indium-gallium-selenium (CIGS) thin-film process with a verified conversion efficiency of 19.6%.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) is making a US$13 million investment in five separate projects designed to improve manufacturing competitiveness in the domestic solar industry.
