Industry & Suppliers

The European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) has launched a European Photovoltaic Observatory at this year’s EU PVSEC, designed to identify “beneficial conditions” for market development and best practices for sustainable development of PV, in addition to promoting market transparency and harmonization across Europe.

Swiss company, Oerlikon Solar, has launched a new production line ‘ThinFab’ for the manufacturing of thin film silicon modules at the EU PVSEC, which is says will achieve “record breaking” production costs of €0.50 per Watt peak (Wp).

Having opened insolvency proceedings just two days ago, Germany-based Meier Solar Solutions has already found a new investor.

juwi Solar has announced its 3.6 megawatt (MW) photovoltaic (PV) project, located in the Bulgarian town of Drachevo has been connected to the grid. According to the company, it is the country’s largest PV park.

Italy-based Silfab SpA has said it is to open a 180 megawatt (MW) solar module manufacturing plant in Ontario, Canada. CAD$15 million has been invested into the first phase of development.

The excitement level at this year’s EU PVSEC is slowly picking up. Visions are going beyond the magical year 2020 and stretching to 2050. Speaking to a full hall at the opening conference of the trade show, which opened today in Valencia, Spain, Dr. Giovanni Federigo De Santi, director of the Institute for Energy (IE), Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission ended his speech by asking if the photovoltaics (PV) industry is ready to face the challenges lying ahead in 2050.

Switzerland-based Sputnik Engineering AG has announced it will be supplying the U.K. photovoltaics (PV) market with its solar inverters, starting from the fourth quarter of this year.

A new study has stated that Europe is leading the way in terms of photovoltaics (PV) installations. The JRC’s Institute for Energy (IE), which published its ninth Annual Photovoltaics Status Report today, has said that out of the estimated 7.4 gigawatts (GW) of newly installed PV modules worldwide last year, 5.8 GW was located in Europe.

Plans to add 22 megawatts (MW) of utility-scale solar power in New Mexico, the U.S. by electric utility company PNM Resources, have been approved by the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission. Set to be installed across various sites in New Mexico, the U.S. Regulators capped the facilities’ cost at USD$101.7 million. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of next year.

Following the introduction of attractive feed-in tariffs in April, Germany-based Centrosolar has opened up a subsidiary in the U.K. According to the company, Centrosolar UK Ltd. will be in a position to respond to increased demand for photovoltaics (PV) systems, particularly in England.