PLANTS, CENTERS, AND FACILITIES

Oceans of Energy to build first commercial offshore solar project in North Sea

Oceans of Energy was awarded a contract to install 0.5 MW of floating solar modules in the North Sea between the turbines of CrossWind’s 759 MW Hollandse Kust Noord wind park. The wind project will be complete by the end of 2023, with the solar farm due to be in place in 2025.

World’s largest phosphate miner turns to solar

Moroccan state-owned phosphate mining company OCP Group announced the construction of four solar power plants at two of its four mining sites in Morocco. The solar facilities, which will have a combined capacity of 202 MW, will power the sites’ operations.

New recycling facility shreds old circuit boards with far lower carbon footprint

A sprawling new e-waste recycling facility near San Diego run by a company called Camston Wrather uses a proprietary “particle reduction” process to break down old circuit boards. The result, which looks like sand, goes to a refiner. The company says its carbon footprint is around 90% lower than smelting.

World’s largest solid-oxide hydrogen electrolyzer installed at NASA facility in California

Bloom Energy installed the world’s largest solid-oxide electrolyzer at Ames Research Center. The 4-MW unit produces 20–25% more hydrogen per megawatt than commercially demonstrated alkaline or PEM systems. The previous record for largest SOE was only broken last month, with a 2.6-MW unit in Rotterdam manufactured by Germany’s Sunfire.

CTIEC shines in glass exports with building of new Indonesian factory

State-owned China Triumph International Engineering Co Ltd, the world’s largest glass engineering service provider, will build the largest high-end glass factory in Indonesia, according to a contract signed in late April 2023. Upon completion, the melting load for sheets of float glass at the facility will reach 1,200 metric tons per day.


ACQUISITIONS AND COLLABORATIONS

Owens Corning closes renewable electricity supply agreement with Shell Energy Europe

Owens Corning is taking a major step in Europe toward achieving its goal of sourcing 100% renewable electricity by 2030 with a 10-year virtual power purchase agreement with Shell Energy Europe B.V. effective March 9, 2023.

MLC CAD Systems partners with Formlabs to expand additive manufacturing solutions

MLC CAD Systems LLC announced a new partnership with Formlabs. This partnership expands upon existing manufacturing technology and expertise to provide access to new additive solutions, including stereolithography and selective laser sintering.

Aventus and Energy Web partner to revolutionize energy

Energy Web, a nonprofit that builds open-source technology solutions for energy systems, partnered with Aventus, which provides Web3 solutions to enterprises, to support the launch of Energy Web X, a decentralized technology that will enable Energy Web to provide more efficient and effective services to clients while achieving grid decarbonization.

ARPA-E announces agreement with California Energy Commission

ARPA-E and the California Energy Commission signed a memorandum of understanding, solidifying joint efforts to advance breakthrough energy technologies. The two agencies will publicly share available knowledge and results from their funded work both between the two agencies and with the greater public.

O-I Glass celebrates contributions of women in innovation

April 26 marked World Intellectual Property Day with this year’s theme being “Women and IP: Accelerating innovation and creativity.” O-I Glass, Inc. joined the World Intellectual Property Organization in recognizing its women inventors.

Şişecam chairman elected Phoenix Committee Glass Person of the Year 2023

Şişecam’s chairman and Board executive member Cavaliere Prof. Dr. Ahmet Kirman was elected the Glass Person of the Year 2023 by the Phoenix Award Committee.  The award honors those who have made an outstanding contribution to the glass industry.

Owens Corning named among Top 50 companies by DiversityInc

Owens Corning was recognized by DiversityInc as one of its Top 50 companies as leaders in workplace fairness and inclusion practices and policy. Owens Corning is on track for its 2030 goal to have people of color fill 22% of global mid-level leader, director, and vice president roles, and to have women fill 35% of roles at that same level.

SCHOTT appoints Supervisory Board of SCHOTT Pharma AG & Co. KGaA

SCHOTT AG appointed new shareholder representatives to the Supervisory Board of SCHOTT Pharma, bringing a broad range of expertise and industry experience to its recently carved-out subsidiary.

Cement Association of Canada launches net-zero action plan

The Cement Association of Canada, together with its members and partners in the concrete sector, released Concrete Zero, an action plan to ensure Canada’s cement and concrete industry achieves its carbon emissions reduction goals by making cement net-zero by 2050.

California’s clean energy R&D program delivers 10x return on investment

Since its creation in 2012, the California Energy Commission’s Electric Program Investment Charge has invested $1.1 billion toward the state’s clean energy economy. The program has attracted a tenfold return on investment, with awardees earning more than $10.5 billion in follow-on funding after investments.


MARKET TRENDS

EU packaging regulation threatens European glass industry

Proposed revisions to the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste rules may threaten the successful business model of factories, according to companies in the European container glass industry. Member of the European Parliament Frédérique Ries visited a factory to see the effect the proposed revisions could have on local businesses.


NEW PRODUCTS

Swiss manufacturer enters Australia with heterojunction solar module

Swiss solar module maker Meyer Burger plans to enter the Australian market with a range of heterojunction half-cell solar panels that it claims provide an additional yield of up to 20% compared to conventional PERC modules.

Author

Lisa McDonald