Markets

Following yesterday’s news that Panasonic is looking set to buy out Sanyo Electric Company, Sanyo Eneos Solar has announced it has postponed its planned photovoltaics thin film production project, originally scheduled to start this year, and is instead concentrating on efficiency enhancement and marketing activities. The reason cited was a “dramatically” changing business environment, due to the decreasing price of crystalline silicon.

Electricity generated from new photovoltaics (PV) installations is now cheaper than electricity from proposed new nuclear plants, in what has been dubbed a historic crossover.

Spain’s Ministry of Industry has presented a decree to the country’s Council of Ministers against the so-called “Fraude Fotovoltaico” or “photovoltaic fraud.”

Last year was a record year for the photovoltaics (PV) inverter market, with shipments of 8.3 gigawatts (GW) generating USD$2.8 billion, according to IMS Research’s latest report on the global solar inverter market. However, it says this is expected to change this year.

Propelled by aggressive research and development (R&D) activities, third generation photovoltaics (PVs) are poised to take a huge leap forward, says Frost & Sullivan in a new analysis. The exploratory mass production of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC)-powered consumer durables is likely to alter the future course of research in this segment, says the company.

Solarmer Energy, Inc. has recently achieved a new world record of 8.13 percent for its organic photovoltaic (OPV) cell efficiency, which has been certified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

The New York Solar Energy Industries Association (NYSEIA) has praised the U.S. state of New York for turning around the processing of applications in its photovoltaics (PV) grant program, thus allowing the industry to continue on its growth track.

For the first half of this year, the German Federal Network Agency is expecting to see an increase in photovoltaics (PV) installations of more than three gigawatts (GW). During this time, around 135,000 data specifications have been submitted to the agency, of which more than 50,000 alone were made in June.

Following industry association calls, the first U.S. national renewable energy jobs and security bill, which proposes the country should adopt Germany’s feed-in tariff model, has been introduced to congress.

The Indian government has unveiled its Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) guidelines.