Germany’s Wacker Polysilicon has reported an 8% Y/Y sales increase in Q3, bringing revenues to EUR271.4 million (US$300 million). Major decrease in margin from 71.4% to 33.8% was largely a result of decrease special payments, including retained prepayments and damages from solar customers.

German-U.S. solar giant SolarWorld has continued to grow sales and revenues in 2015, posting shipments of 755 MW in the first nine months of 2015. The company has achieved pre-tax profit in the period of EUR15 million (US$16.5 million).

U.S. thin film producer and project develop First Solar has inked a PPA with Austin Energy for its 119 MW East Pecos Solar Project.

A research team from the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and Ècole Polytechnique Fédérale (EPF) has developed a method to produce perovskite-heterojunction crystalline silicon tandem solar cells. Having produced an 18% efficiency cell with the technique, the researchers say with light trapping wafer texturing efficiencies as high as 25 to 30% could be achieved in the future.

IHS is warning of a short-term wafer supply shortage. Strong end market demand from China and the U.S. is coinciding with a period in which manufactures have expanded module output without having done so with wafer capacities.

German production equipment supplier Singulus has recorded weak sales in Q3, 2015. With order intake of only EUR 11.3 million for the quarter, the company looks likely to sustain further losses in 2015.

A 1.17 MW rooftop array at the Adelaide airport in Australia’s south is evidence of the growth being seen in the commercial rooftop sector. While the sector may not have increased in size as dramatically as was expected by some, solar industry participants are reporting a big uptick in activity in the sector.

The state of Western Australia is “weeks away” from delivering a regulatory solution to allow battery storage systems to be installed and, importantly, to feed electricity back into the grid. The move has been heralded by state Energy Minister and Treasurer Mike Nahan who noted that solar PV will likely account for the bulk of generating capacity added to the state’s grids in the future.

Shunfeng International Clean Energy (SFCE) has completed one of its flagship integrated clean energy projects in Shanghai, at the Hong Qiao International School. Bringing together its “medley” of solar PV, heat pump and LED technologies, SFCE will provide 66% of the school’s energy needs, under a 25-year energy management contract.

Chinese power electronics supplier Huawei will supply 100 MW of inverters to the third stage of the ZhongFli Talesun in Shizuishan City, Ningxia Province, China. Huawei says the project’s daily yield is estimated to reach 600,000 kWh.