Major PV equipment supplier, centrotherm photovoltaics has submitted its reorganization plans to the insolvency court in Ulm, Germany. Although the company did not provide details on what those plans would be, the company said in a statement that it had now entered a critical phase in its insolvency proceedings that also need creditor approval. Both its subsidiaries, centrotherm thermal solutions and centrotherm SiTec have also filed plans with the court separately.
Continuing to restructure the company in hope of surviving the solar shakeout, major PV equipment specialist centrotherm photovoltaics has made sweeping changes to its senior management with the notable fall of its enigmatic CTO, Dr. Peter Fath. Current CEO, Robert M. Hartung will also step down from his position, while Peter Augustin will become responsible for core solar cell and module business, amongst other management changes.
JA Solar Holdings publicized that its monocrystalline and multicrystalline Cypress solar cells have reached a new high in their average conversion efficiency. The monocrystalline Cypress solar cell reached an average 19.1% efficiency, while the multicrystalline Cypress cell reached 17.4%. The industry average is said to be 18.8% and 17% for monocrystalline and multicrystalline solar cells, respectively.
Despite record cell efficiencies being announced in recent years, just 0.5% of advanced technologies for cell efficiency have been implemented into volume production on an annual basis. A panel session moderated by PV-Tech’s senior editor Mark Osborne, part of the PV Production Forum 2012 at EU PVSEC, discusses the reasons why migration has been so slow.
Independently verified by the ISE CalLab, SCHMID Group is championing 20.74% efficiency level for a PERC cell using its APCVD tool, which is being showcased at EU PVSEC, in Frankfurt this week. The cells employed a screen printed 3 busbar frontside, using Cz-Si wafers.
Having launched the ‘Vinspec Solar’ inspection system at the beginning of the year, Vitronic is using EU PVSEC this week to reiterate the need to make manual checking a thing of the past.
During EU PVSEC, Meyer Burger’s subsidiary, Roth & Rau will be presenting a new front and rear side c-Si solar cell process that employs nickel within busbar metallisation for electrical contacts, which is claimed to save on silver usage between 50 and 70%, dependent on the contact technology deployed.
PV equipment specialist Despatch Industries is set to launch its new Safire firing furnace and accompanying dryer technology at EU PVSEC in Frankfurt, Germany next week. The company also noted that PV manufacturer, Nice Sun PV Co had completed high-volume production testing of the Safire furnace that demonstrated a 0.1% absolute improvement in overall efficiency on a baseline product and up to 0.13% on some product types.
In keeping with recent years, Taiwan-based solar cell manufacturer Neo Solar Power (NSP) is launching several new cells that follow a different path to high-efficiency, while claiming to be the low-cost option. Being showcased at EU PVSEC in Frankfurt next week is NSP’s polycrystalline Super18 solar cell and its mono-crystalline Black19+ with a maximum efficiency of 19.4%, all accomplished without the use of selective emitters or rear-side passivation technologies.
Dealing with the acute lack of capital spending across the PV supply chain, major equipment supplier Meyer Burger is consolidating its production and technology operations after several years of leading an acquisition trail. The company said it would focus operations at four main production locations and two solar technology centres worldwide.
