Asia

The Japanese electronics giant has unveiled three monocrystalline half-cut cell modules said to provide 2% to 3% better performance than standard, full-cell panels. The claimed efficiency of the modules exceeds 19.5% and Sharp says power output ranges from 330 W to 395 W.

Insolvency proceedings have been underway for Solibro GmbH since late summer, and business operations have long been suspended. This week another Hanergy subsidiary, Solibro Hi-Tech, has also declared insolvency.

Is First Solar stalled in innovation and growth? Markus Beck, a thin-film solar expert and former chief scientist at First Solar, provides an industry perspective on the fate of thin-film PV in the U.S.

Venture capital is still flowing to energy storage startups and the march to improve a wide variety of battery chemistries continues.

Four days after the drone attack ordered by the U.S. which killed Iranian power broker Qassem Suleimani, energy forecasting service AleaSoft said the price of Brent was rising again today. The potential shake out of rising oil costs for the solar industry is difficult to predict.

Alta Devices has not located a white-knight investor to save the company and resume its PV cell production. That means no health care or COBRA for its furloughed employees.

The company’s technology falls in the ‘kerfless’ wafer category: Instead of sawing silicon ingots into wafers, a time-consuming and wasteful process, 1366’s technology forms wafers directly using molten silicon.

Unannounced layoffs with no pay or benefits have left more than 600 American workers in the U.S., 180 employees in Germany, and thousands in China unemployed and in the dark. A number of employees reached out to tell their story.

Alta’s COO: “An agreement has been reached between Alta Devices and Hanergy to allow Alta to bring in outside investors to breathe new life into the company, and to get the thin film GaAs technology leader back on track.”

Vikram Solar recently announced three commercial sized solar modules for the US market – a framed and frameless bifacial, and a half cut standard monoPERC – whose peak output ranges from 375 through 425 watts, available starting in January 2020.