Ceramic and glass business news of the week for January 18, 2021

PLANTS, CENTERS, AND FACILITIES

Valorem inks PPA for agrivoltaic project in France

French wind and solar developer Valorem announced the signing of a 30-year power purchase agreement for a 5-MWp agrivoltaic project in southwestern France. The Tour-Blanche solar park in Dordogne, which will also serve as a solar pasture, is planned to go into service in the summer of 2021.

Cardinal Glass completes expansion in Roanoke County

Cardinal Glass Industries completed its recent facility expansion project in Roanoke County, Virginia. The 26,000 square foot project expands and modernizes the facility’s production space and office area as well as adding an employee break room and locker rooms. Together, the facility upgrades and added equipment represent an $8 million investment.

Kensington Glass Arts Inc. opens fabrication facility in Virginia

Kensington Glass Arts Inc., a Mid-Atlantic commercial glazier, architectural glass fabricator, and distributor, opened an additional glass fabrication facility in Sterling, Va. The new Sterling facility will open for production in January 2021, and it will help KGA expand its tempered, laminated, and tempered laminated glass fabrication capabilities.

EME upgrades Encirc batch plant for 900 tonnes per day furnace

EME successfully upgraded the batch plant at Encirc in Elton, United Kingdom, to feed the increased capacity of the new 900 tonnes per day furnace. EME also extended the cullet return system and now 12 of its scrapers are in operation at the container glass manufacturing facility.

Schott invests €40 million in second pharmaceutical glass tubing melting tank

Speciality glass manufacturer Schott plans to build a second melting tank for pharmaceutical glass tubing at its main plant in Mainz, Germany costing €40 million. The new production facility is scheduled to go into operation in mid-2022 and will then offer 100 new jobs, 50 of which will be directly at Schott.

ACQUISITIONS AND COLLABORATIONS

Kyocera completes acquisition of California-based SLD Laser

Kyocera Corporation announced the completion of its 100% acquisition of California-based SLD Laser (formally named Soraa Laser Diode, Inc.), a world leader in commercialization of gallium nitride-based laser light sources. SLD Laser is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Kyocera operating under the name Kyocera SLD Laser, Inc. (hereinafter “KSLD”).

Duke Energy Renewables acquires solar project from Recurrent Energy

Duke Energy Renewables will acquire the 144MW Pflugerville Solar project in Texas from Canadian Solar’s subsidiary Recurrent Energy. The Pflugerville Solar project is currently under construction and is expected to come online this year.

Eclipse Metals acquires world’s largest historical cryolite mine, contains heavy rare earths

Australia-based Eclipse Metals is acquiring 100% ownership of the mothballed Ivittuut cryolite mine in Greenland. The company, which has just raised $2 million through a placement, says apart from cryolite, the project contains rare earth elements, high purity silica, fluorite, and base metals in the pit floor.

AMFG and HP collaborate to drive system connectivity for additive manufacturing

AMFG, a provider of manufacturing execution system software for additive manufacturing, is collaborating with HP to enable data streaming and connectivity for HP Jet Fusion systems through AMFG’s manufacturing execution system software.

ReneSola and Eiffel announce MOU for joint venture to fund solar development in Europe

ReneSola, a leading fully integrated solar project developer, signed a memorandum of understanding with Eiffel Investment Group, an asset management firm with 3 billion euros under management, to establish a joint venture that will provide financing for ReneSola Power’s current and future solar projects across Europe.

CBAK Energy partners with JAC Motors to jointly develop new battery cells

CBAK Energy Technology, Inc. signed a three-year strategic agreement with Anhui Jianghuai Motors Group Co., Ltd for joint product development. The agreement combines CBAK’s experience in the research, development, and manufacturing of battery cells with JAC Motors’ technology capabilities and electric vehicle industry leadership.

Siemens Energy, Buoyant Production collaborate on smart offshore facilities design

Buoyant Production Technologies Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Crondall Energy Ltd., announced that its pioneering Floating Normally Unattended Installation (NUI) design moved closer to commercialization with a strategic collaboration with Siemens Energy AS, to jointly market and deliver the units.

OTHER STORIES

Webinar: Electromagnetic/electric fields in ceramics synthesis and processing

MRS is hosting their next webinar on electromagnetic/electric fields in ceramics synthesis and processing on January 20 at 12 p.m. Eastern. The webinar will present three talks with authors from the MRS Bulletin January 2021 issue: Jian Luo (University of California, San Diego), Rishi Raj (University of Colorado), and R. Edwin Garcia (Purdue University).

Webinar: Is lithium the answer?

Cosmos Magazine is hosting their next webinar on renewable energy technologies on January 21 at 3 p.m. Australian Eastern Daylight Time. Energy experts Mahdokht Shaibani (Monash University) and Rick Valenta (The University of Queensland) how to mine lithium in a sustainable and responsible way.

ISGF launches online training program on blockchain for energy and utilities

The India Smart Grid Forum launched an online training program on blockchain for energy and utilities. The training sessions for this program will be held from Jan. 7 to Feb. 5, 2021. The training will be conducted in two formats—live online training and recorded online training.

virtual.drupa 2021 online exhibitor registration open

Exhibitors can now register for virtual.drupa 2021 at https://virtual.drupa.com/en/Become_exhibitor/Online_application. virtual.drupa will take place from April 20 – 23, 2021, at https://virtual.drupa.com.

NTIA, Pentagon move to tackle 5G interoperability complexities

The Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration wants feedback on the potential of a new “5G Challenge” it may create to promote interoperability in the burgeoning realm—and support the Defense Department’s ongoing military networking modernization efforts.

Schott reaches new record in glass vial production for COVID-19 vaccine

Schott’s pharmaceutical containers, including high-quality glass vials, are used in 75% of all COVID-19 vaccines projects that have been approved or are currently in pipeline. These projects include ones funded by the U.S. Operation Warp Speed program.

New British Glass president announced

Matthew Demmon became the new President of British Glass after a unanimous vote at the company’s Annual General Meeting. Demmon, who is the managing director of glass merchant and consultancy firm MKD32, takes over from Saint Gobain Glass UK’s Steve Severs, who has been president since 2019.

MRF appoints new business development director for the East

Materials Research Furnaces appointed Rebecca “Becky” Stephenson as MRF’s eastern region’s new business development director. Stephenson has a degree in chemical engineering and a focus on materials science from Clarkson University.

NIST requests comments on proposed changes to Bayh-Dole Regulations

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is seeking feedback on proposed changes to regulations that support the University and Small Business Patent Procedures Act of 1980, commonly known as the Bayh-Dole Act. The revisions remove outdated and unnecessary language and reorganize a number of sections for clarity. Comments are due by April 5, 2021.

MARKET TRENDS

Congress sets new goals for DOE technology programs

A product of two years of legislative work, the Energy Act of 2020 overhauls policy across the Department of Energy’s applied energy and fusion R&D programs, including by recommending greatly expanding efforts aimed at reducing carbon emissions. An article by FYI, the American Institute of Physics’ news and resource center for federal science policy, covers the details.

COVID-19’s impact on glass recycling

In a Waste360 interview, O-I Glass chief sustainability officer Randy Burns discusses how the pandemic has affected glass manufacturing, recycling, and what the future may hold.