Ceramic and glass business news of the week for January 2, 2023

PLANTS, CENTERS, AND FACILITIES

Sunotec building 124 MWp solar park at hilly site in Bulgaria

Sunotec, a solar construction company based in Bulgaria and Germany, is building Bulgaria’s largest solar power plant, a 124-MWp array, at a hilly site in the Verila mountain range. Sunotec expects to complete the project by the spring of 2023.

BVG to set up 2 GW solar module fab in India

India-based BVG announced plans to set up 2 GW of solar panel production capacity in northern India. The first phase will be a 500 MW, fully automated module line with equipment sourced from Spain’s Mondragon Assembly.

Şişecam invests €228 million in sustainable technology

Şişecam will invest €228 million at its site in Mersin, Turkey, to increase capacity. The frosted glass furnace investment capacity will increase from 180 thousand tons to 244 thousand tons per year, while yearly capacity of the energy glass processing line will increase from 20 million m² to 26.6 million m².

Kyocera plans new manufacturing plant in Japan’s Nagasaki Prefecture by 2026

Kyocera Corporation announced plans to build a new manufacturing plant in Isahaya City, Nagasaki Prefecture, to advance its business expansion goals. The company made an offer to acquire approximately 150,000 square meters (about 37 acres) in the Minami Isahaya Industrial Park.

Samsung Electronics to expand chip production at largest plant next year

The Seoul Economic Daily reported that, despite forecasts of an economic slowdown, Samsung Electronics plans to expand its P3 factory in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, by adding 12-inch wafers capacity for DRAM memory chips as well as additional 4-nanometer chip capacity. P3 is the company’s largest chip manufacturing facility.

ACQUISITIONS AND COLLABORATIONS

L3Harris to acquire Aerojet Rocketdyne

L3Harris Technologies and Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. signed a definitive agreement for L3Harris to acquire Aerojet Rocketdyne for $58 per share, in an all-cash transaction valued at $4.7 billion, inclusive of net debt. Lockheed Martin entered an agreement to acquire Aerojet Rocketdyne in 2020 but that was blocked by the FTC.

Enel, McDonald’s ink 189 MW solar offtake

Enel signed an agreement to supply the U.S. logistic operations of McDonald’s Corporation with solar electricity from its 189 MW Blue Jay solar plant in Texas. The Blue Jay solar project is expected to be fully operational in 2023.

Vertex and Encirc sign low carbon hydrogen supply agreement

Vertex Hydrogen will supply Encirc with 300+ megawatts of low carbon hydrogen for the furnace at its Elton plant in Cheshire, U.K.  Recently, Encirc announced its plan to build a new ultralow carbon furnace at its Cheshire site. The furnace will be operational by 2027.

Nigeria, Rwanda become first African nations to sign Artemis Accords

Nigeria and Rwanda became the first African nations to sign the Artemis Accords during the first-ever U.S.–Africa Space Forum. The Artemis Accords are a broad, nonbinding framework that lay out agreements for responsible and peaceful international exploration of the moon.

Autel Energy partners with minority-owned Legacy Clean Energy on EV charging

Autel Energy, a global manufacturer of electric vehicle charging equipment, partnered with Legacy Clean Energy, a minority-owned business in Charlotte, N.C., to provide electric vehicle charging solutions for businesses and underserved communities throughout the nation.

NIST and AIM Photonics team up on high frequency optical/electronic chips

The National Institute of Standards and Technology entered into a cooperative R&D agreement with AIM Photonics that will give chip developers a critical new tool for designing faster chips that use both optical and electrical signals to transmit information.

Advanced Energy Minerals signs distribution agreement with UMC

Advanced Energy Minerals announced United Mineral and Chemical Corporation (UMC) as the exclusive distributor of its products in the United States. This agreement will provide Advanced Energy Minerals with access to UMC’s existing customer base and develop new markets for its products in the United States.

UNIST embarks on new partnership with Foosung Co., Ltd

On Dec. 15, 2022, UNIST announced the launch of their new joint research platform with Foosung Co., Ltd., a representative company of Ulsan, to help reduce carbon emissions for a cleaner future by developing low-global warming potential etching technologies.

OTHER STORIES

Lithoz sees its strongest year ever, thanks to successful industrial scale-up of LCM tech

Lithoz GmbH, a global leader in ceramic 3D printing, confirmed that 2022 was its most successful year ever in terms of order intake. Sales of their ceramic 3D printers almost doubled from last year, and most of the incremental volume came from industrial customers scaling up to digital ceramic mass production.

Andrea Frenzel appointed newest member of SCHOTT AG Board of Management

Starting on April 1, 2023, Andrea Frenzel will become the newest member of the SCHOTT AG Board of Management, succeeding retiring member Hermann Ditz. Frenzel is currently President of the Intermediates Operating Division at BASF SE in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

Congress approves omnibus spending bill, funding agencies through September

After significant delay and compromise, Congress finally set spending levels across the government for fiscal 2023. The underlying spending package provides an overall increase to nondefense discretionary spending of about 6% for a total of $773 billion, while defense spending is set to soar by 10% to $858 billion.

MARKET TRENDS

Tokyo makes solar panels mandatory for new homes built after 2025

All new houses in Tokyo built by large-scale homebuilders after April 2025 must install solar power panels to cut household carbon emissions, according to a new regulation passed by the Japanese capital’s local assembly.

Europe and Japan push waste-to-energy tech across South East Asia

There are more than 100 waste-to-energy projects recently constructed, being built, or planned in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand that often involve European or Japanese companies. But they attract local opposition over their green credentials.

NEW PRODUCTS

Zytronic shows speakers made of glass with wireless drivers

U.K. touchscreen specialist Zytronic unveiled the concept of an unusual speaker made of glass, which uses entirely wireless drivers and is barely thicker than a sheet of paper. The innovative concept is designed to wirelessly connect and power a media player, LC display, LED lighting, and the two speaker drivers.

DAS Solar unveils n-type bifacial glass-glass module for residential PV

Chinese module manufacturer DAS Solar launched an all-black bifacial glass-glass module series with an output of 410 W to 430 W. The new series features efficiencies of up to 22% and a temperature coefficient of -0.3% per degree Celsius.