Hanergy

A new generation of flexible, lightweight modules is entering the market. With back contact technology offering its own form of design flexibility and robustness, the new products could crack a hard-to-address market segment.

If you’re interested in some lightly used MOCVD and PVD thin-film solar cell production equipment, have we got a deal for you.

Plus, analyst WoodMac says a fall in the cost of power generation in Japan during the public health crisis will help drive renewables investment and the Indian government has relaxed borrowing rules for its financially crippled electric utilities.

Also, a court in Beijing is now reviewing an application for bankruptcy filed by a unit of Hanergy. In other developments this week, a diverse range of solar industry players launched the 600W+ Photovoltaic Open Innovation Ecological Alliance.

With the opening of insolvency proceedings, the business operations of the company were halted days ago. No potential investor could be found to take over the business.

Insolvency proceedings have been under way for the separate Solibro GmbH division since late summer and business operations have long been suspended there. With Chinese thin-film manufacturer Hanergy having told pv magazine it pulled out of that business in 2015 – despite apparent evidence to the contrary – this week another Hanergy subsidiary, Solibro Hi-Tech, declared insolvency.

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

Unannounced lay-offs with no pay or benefits have left more than 600 American workers, 180 employees in Germany and thousands in China unemployed and in the dark. Some of those affected have told pv magazine their story.

The U.S. business built and sold record-setting gallium-arsenide solar cells but its parent has seemingly run out of patience. Having failed to give its workers notice of the move, Hanergy is either in contravention of U.S. employment law, ‘faltering’ or subject to ‘unforeseen business circumstances’.

The Chinese thin-film manufacturer has achieved 25.11% efficiency with a full size silicon heterojunction cell, beating its own record. The efficiency record has been confirmed by Germany’s Institute for Solar Energy Research Hamelin.