News

50 Most-Read Industry News Stories of 2014: 20 to 11

January 07, 2015 by Power Pulse1595211359

20: German Solar Energy Breaks Three Records within Two Weeks

Over the early part of June, Germany set three records for solar energy production including: Over 50 percent of total demand was met with solar for the first time; a new solar Peak Power production record set; and the Weekly Total solar power output hit an all-time high. The latest analysis from the Fraunhofer ISE solar energy research institute shows that photovoltaic systems generated a record 24.24 GW between 1 and 2 pm on Friday, June 6 and a total of 1.26 TWh over the entire week. On June 9, which was a national holiday in Germany, solar power production peaked at 23.1 GW, which equaled 50.6 percent of total electricity demand, setting another milestone. As a result of these developments, and continuing activities such as the FabriGen project described below, sales of solar power storage systems are expected to skyrocket in Germany. more

19: GE to lead New York Power Electronics Manufacturing Consortium

New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo yesterday announced that the State will partner with over 100 other companies, universities and public authorities, including IBM and GlobalFoundries, and led by GE, to launch the New York Power Electronics Manufacturing Consortium. The Consortium will invest over $500 million and create thousands of high-skilled, high-paying jobs in Upstate New York over the next five years, including at least 500 in the Capital region, focusing on the development and manufacture of the next generation of Silicon Carbide and other materials used on semiconductors. more

18: 'Process-Friendly' Carbon Nanotubes for Cooling Electronics

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a "process friendly" technique that would enable the cooling of microprocessor chips through carbon nanotubes. Frank Ogletree, a physicist with Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division, led a study in which organic molecules were used to form strong covalent bonds between carbon nanotubes and metal surfaces. This improved by six-fold the flow of heat from the metal to the carbon nanotubes, paving the way for faster, more efficient cooling of computer chips. The technique is done through gas vapor or liquid chemistry at low temperatures, making it suitable for the manufacturing of computer chips. more

17: 8-inch IGBT Wafer and Module Production Opens in China

Dynex Semiconductor today announced that its parent company, Zhuzhou CSR Times Electric Co Ltd. held a ceremony at its facility in China to mark the opening of a new $240 million IGBT production base in Zhuzhou. The new production base, the first of its kind in China, and the second worldwide, will produce high-power IGBT chips and modules using 8-inch silicon. Annual output of the first phase of this new production line is expected to reach 120,000 wafers and 1 million pieces of IGBT modules. This IGBT line is being operated by the newly formed Semiconductor Business Unit of CSR Times Electric, of which Dynex is the European subsidiary. more

16: Digital Power Growth Changes Trajectory

Digital power is no longer an emerging technology, but it is still far from maturity. It is safe to say that in the past 24 months, the digital power market has entered a new phase and is on a new growth path. It is growing faster than the power conversion or power electronics market in general and is projected to grow from $2.1 billion in 2014 to $9.3 billion in 2019, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 34.7%. more

15: US$9.4 million Invested in Sonnenbatterie for Distributed Storage

Sonnenbatterie GmbH announced the closing of a $9.4 million round of equity financing led by new investors Chrysalix SET and Munich Venture Partners (MVP). The investment round also included follow-on financing by prior investor eCAPITAL. The company has sold close to 4,000 units of its intelligent energy storage system to home owners, farmers and businesses since entering the market in 2011. Coupled with a solar energy system, the Sonnenbatterie can meet various electricity demands of residential owners. more

14: U.S. DOE and Industry Groups Agree to Pay-TV Set-Top Box Efficiency Standards

The U.S. Energy Department (DOE), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), the Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP), the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) announced non-regulatory energy efficiency standards for pay-TV set-top boxes that will result in significant energy savings for more than 90 million U.S. homes. These new standards — developed through a non-regulatory agreement between the pay-TV industry, the consumer electronics industry and energy efficiency advocates — will improve set-top box efficiency by 10 to 45 percent (depending on box type) by 2017, and are expected to save more than $1 billion on consumer energy bills annually. more

13: Infineon Invests in Tech to Embed Power Chips in PCBs

Infineon Technologies AG and Schweizer Electronic AG jointly-announced today that Infineon will acquire a 9.4 percent stake in Schweizer. Both companies agreed on strict confidentiality on the terms. By investing into Schweizer Infineon emphasizes its intention to jointly-develop technologies for the integration of power semiconductors into PCBs and to tap the chip embedding market for high-power automotive and industrial applications. Schweizer's chip embedding technology will round out Infineon's proprietary chip embedding packaging technology BLADE, used for example for direct current supply (dc-dc conversion) that is necessary for processors in computer and telecommunications systems. more

12: Delta to Pay $517 Million for Eltek

The Board of Directors of Eltek ASA announced an agreement with Deltronics (Netherlands) B.V., a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Electronics, Inc., whereby the Deltronics will offer to acquire all of the shares of Eltek through a voluntary cash offer of NOK 11.75 per share. The Board of Directors of Eltek recommends the shareholders of Eltek to accept the offer. The Voluntary Offer values the total share capital of Eltek at approximately NOK 3.87 billion (about US$517 million). Shareholders representing 76.6% of the total share capital of Eltek, including Elteks largest shareholders, Ketlav Invest AS, CC Industries Inc. and Eltek Holding AS, have irrevocably undertaken to accept the Voluntary Offer for their shares in the Company. more

11: Magnesium May Replace Lithium in Rechargeable Batteries

A Tainan-based National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) research team led by Prof. Fei-Yi Hung, Chun-Shing Lu and Li-Huei Chen from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering working with its instrument center has developed next-generation magnesium batteries that could replace lithium batteries. The team has been working on the research of magnesium battery, and has succeeded in overcoming the problems caused by the high activity of magnesium and increasing the stability, Prof. Hung revealed. more