2023

As the grid evolves toward a future dominated by inverters, manufacturers are developing and refining necessary stability functions.

Insolation Energy, an Indian solar module manufacturer, is setting up a 600 MW PV cell production facility. It is also expanding its panel production capacity from 700 MW to 1.2 GW.

Power purchase agreement (PPA) prices are falling in all European markets except for Spain and Portugal, according to Pexapark. The Netherlands and Great Britain have experienced the largest declines.

Lhyfe has started producing offshore hydrogen via a pilot project in France, and Toyota and its partners have agreed to invest in hydrogen in Thailand. The Australian authorities, meanwhile, have approved a hydrogen project in Victoria.

Jörg Ebel, the president of German solar association BSW, spoke with pv magazine at Intersolar 2023 about the ongoing German solar renaissance, as the market has steadily recovered since its collapse in 2012. He sees growth across all segments, with untapped “opportunities” in the C&I market. However, he noted that Brussels needs to build trust, set a unified EU industry policy to support factory investments, and create the conditions for Germany to revitalize its upstream PV business.

Research carried out by China‘s National Photovoltaic Quality Inspection Center shows that new n-type TOPCon modules are living up to their promise, outperforming the previous generation of p-type PERC products. Data gathered over six months from a fixed-tilt PV system showed that the n-type products produced 3.69% more energy, and also suffered much lower performance losses.

George Hilton, research manager at S&P Global, spoke to pv magazine at the recent Intersolar 2023 trade show about the latest energy storage trends. He said the industry needs easy-to-install products and more efficient supply chains, and noted that battery prices are highly volatile because they fluctuate in response to changes in the dynamic Chinese electric vehicle market.

A poor showing by the ruling, left-of-center Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party in May’s regional and local elections prompted Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to call a snap national election for Sunday, July 23. With the vote looming, solar industry insider Kjetil Torper considers the state of Spanish solar.

Maxeon Solar Technologies says it has invested $70 million to upgrade its panel factory in Mexicali, Mexico, to 1.8 GW. The remaining capacity is provided by a 700 MW facility that the Singapore-based manufacturer operates in Ensenada.

Decarbon Venture has launched what it claims to be the world’s first “swappable” solar generator at half the weight and double the power rating of other products on the market.