Solar supply chain transparency and sustainability has achieved table stakes status. How and where products are manufactured and by whom has hit our 24/7 news cycle. pv magazine’s UP Initiative partner, U.S. PV tracker manufacturer Nextracker Inc. is actively seeking to address the issue of responsible procurement and workers’ rights. As its director of sustainability points out, these matters come up more frequently in customer meetings which is a positive indication of the importance of sustainability on the agenda.

Increasing demands of the distributed generation market require unique solutions, both for commercial and residential customers. Meeting these is challenging when many PV modules aren’t compatible with the inverters, components, and mounting systems on the market. However, pv magazine’s Spotlight partner JinkoSolar Europe recently demonstrated how it is possible to take customer and developer considerations into account when designing products. In the following interview, Roberto Murgioni, Head of Technical Service & Product Management, discusses the company’s new Tiger Pro 415W high-efficiency module, and explains how stakeholders’ needs have been placed at the core of the design.

A combination of favorable economics, accelerating action to adopt solar to address climate change, and an increasingly hopeful outlook for Covid-19 control has reignited Europe’s commercial- and utility-scale solar markets. India-based Sterling and Wilson Solar is looking to take advantage of this with the opening of a new office in Spain.

AE Solar has launched a new 380-400 W solar PV panel series, “Thunder”, which features PERC monocrystalline technology and efficiencies of up to 21.3%.

The microinverter specialist discusses its profitable growth, key milestones, and an ongoing focus on the Latin American market.

Sungrow has become a strong force in Europe’s PV inverter landscape. The company has already captured a 26% share of the continent’s utility scale PV market and a new line-up of products is catching the attention of project developers.

AE Solar will open a new 1 GW solar PV module manufacturing facility in Turkey at the end of April under a joint venture with U.S.-based Energate Corp.

Solar photovoltaic mounting firm, Premium Mounting Technologies (PMT), was founded by industry veteran Peter Grass in 2012. The company is now shifting gears – in leadership and technologies. Sitting down with the company’s installation partner Solartechnik Dresden’s CEO, Steffen Hesch, the two discussed new business models and changes in solar.

Currently producing 10 GW of annual capacity, inverter manufacturer KSTAR says it plans to expand to 15 GW by the end of this year and hopes to double capacity to 30 GW in 2021 after bringing new products to the market. KSTAR vice president, Mr. Ye, talks about solar, storage, and inverters.

Solar PV tracking manufacturer, Convert, is launching its TRJ-AI Tracker Control System. The company says its new TRJ-AI innovation provides the industry the opportunity to easily control, manage, and monitor tracking systems from digital devices reliably and remotely to optimize the energy production of solar plants.