Point Roberts, WA - June 10, 2013 (Investorideas.com newswire)
Investorideas.com, an investor research portal specializing in investing
ideas in leading sectors including renewable energy stocks, reports on
recent news and developments in the CIGS solar sector and related solar
stocks XsunX (
OTCQB: XSNX), Ascent Solar (NASDAQ:ASTI) and Solar Frontier subsidiary of Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K. (TYO: 5002).
According to recent data from the Japanese Photovoltaic Energy
Association (JPEA), published in an article in Solarserver.com,
"Japanese PV shipments increase 62% year-over-year as imports boom". The
article went on to note, "Thin film shipments are also increasing
rapidly over the year, jumping from 106 MW in the first quarter to 299
MW in the fourth quarter, which ended on March 31st.
JPEA does not disaggregate thin film imports versus domestic
production; however copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film
maker Solar Frontier KK (Tokyo, Japan) has reported strong quarterly
results and in March 2013 re-started its Miyazaki number 2 plant to
increase capacity.”
Solar Frontier is a 100% subsidiary of Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K. (TYO: 5002).
Rechargenews.com, in an article on Solar Frontier said, "The
domestic demand for its thin-film modules is now so high that it is
struggling to meet orders -- despite running its two-year-old 900MW
factory at full throttle and even restarting production at an ageing,
shuttered 60MW plant nearby, an almost unprecedented move in the PV
industry.
And this huge demand comes despite the fact that its
copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) thin-film modules, on paper at
least, remain uncompetitive with crystalline-silicon (c-Si) technology.”
XsunX, Inc. (
OTCQB: XSNX)
is working to commercialize a new manufacturing process to produce low
cost, high efficiency thin-film Copper Indium Gallium (di) Selenide
(CIGS) thin film solar cells. The company recently announced that solar
expert, Dr. John R. Tuttle had joined the Company's Advisory Board to
help advance its CIGS technology.
"Our current requirement was to find someone with world-class CIGS
experience and someone who could also 'think outside of the box' -- or
in the CIGS business -- outside of the vacuum chamber to commercialize
technology. Dr. Tuttle's years of noteworthy experience at NREL
elevating the science and capabilities of CIGS, and his experience
transitioning innovation into operational results provides XsunX with
the hands-on capabilities that we were looking for," concluded Mr.
Djokovich.
Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (
NASDAQ:ASTI),
a manufacturer of consumer and off-grid products integrated with
flexible thin-film photovoltaic modules (CIGS), recently announced the
official entry of the EnerPlexTM brand into the Chinese consumer market
through Ascent's strategic partner, Shenzhen Radiant Enterprise Co., Ltd
(www.sradiant.com), which has signed a distribution agreement with
D.Phone, one of China's largest retailers of mobile phones and
accessories.
According to Globalsources.com, "solar cell companies in China are
shifting their attention to thin-film kinds, which are not covered by
the US, the EU and India anti-dumping duties. They are counting on the
type's improving share, which is currently a minority to the 85 percent
stake of crystalline silicon counterparts. The projected rise for the
former is 30 percent by 2015, according to the Information Network.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, suppliers such as Hanergy
Holding Group Ltd, Baoding Tianwei Baobian and ENN are investing in
production capacity expansion.
ENN is allocating $2.2 billion for a future venture that will boost its turnout to 500MW. Its current maximum level is 70MW.
A local breakthrough in thin-film solar cells based on CIGS is
expected to help accelerate the line's development. It was achieved by
joint efforts of the PV research center of the Shenzhen Institute of
Advanced Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese
University of Hong Kong. The product has 18.7 percent efficiency, which
can be stretched to 19.08 percent. The latter rating is only slightly
lower than the 20.3 percent world record made by Germany's ZSW Center
for Solar and Hydrogen Energy Research.”
According to XsunX, Inc. (
OTCQB: XSNX)
CEO Tom Djokovich, this trend comes as no surprise; it's what his
company has been betting on. He went on to say, "The competiveness of
today's silicon industry is the product of about 40 years of iterative
improvements to the manufacturing technology. CIGS is late to the game
compared to silicon but is now benefiting from years of similar
iterative improvements and with CIGS you have the potential to match or
exceed the conversion efficiencies of silicon - at lower cost points,
concluded Mr. Djokovich.
Article sources:
http://www.solarserver.com/solar-magazine/solar-news/current/2013/kw23/japanese-pv-shipments-increase-62-year-over-year-as-imports-boom.html
http://www.globalsources.com/gsol/I/Solar-cell/a/9000000127860.htm
http://www.rechargenews.com/magazine/article1328409.ece
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