SunPower has announced plans to restructure its Fab 2 cell manufacturing plant in the Philippines. The company’s Fab 1 facility was shuttered in April this year with some equipment transferred from there to Fab 2, to reduce manufacturing constraints during the second quarter.
Overcapacity in the c-Si ingot/wafer supply chain has forced materials specialist, Cookson to close one of its two ingot crucible production plants in China, with immediate effect. The company had closed a similar plant in the Czech Republic in July 2012, which has supplied crucibles, primarily to the European market. Major European-based ingot/wafer producers such as PV Crystalox are down below 30% capacity utilization on the back of weak demand.
SolarCity has expanded its presence in the northeast with new locations in New York’s Westchester County and Long Island joining its recently magnified Albany operations centre.
French trade union the CGT has expressed concern over the proposed idling of module production at Bosch’s Vénissieux plant in France for two weeks at the end of October.
Already incorrectly type-cast by the mainstream media as the illegitimate love child of failed copper indium gallium di selenide (CIGS) thin-film manufacturer, Solyndra, flexible CIGS thin-film start-up SoloPower has officially opened its first volume production plant in Portland, Oregon. Unlike other CIGS start-ups, SoloPower uses proprietary roll-to-roll processes via electro-deposition processing as its differentiator.
Bisol advised that it has made a €1.5 million investment for the three-phase automation of its production facility. The process, which it speculates will increase its production capacity by nearly 10%, is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Modernization of its production facility began this past summer. Bisol noted that its project was not financed by any European or governmental subsidies.
Stefan Quandt, BMW board member and one of the richest people in the world, according to the Forbes list of billionaires, will become the majority owner of German-based PV module manufacturer, Solarwatt which is currently insolvency proceedings since mid-June.
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.
