Highlights

The Swiss manufacturer has secured €185 million for the expansion of its cell and module production. Meyer Burger no longer wants to sell its solar cells to third parties in the future.

The French government has selected 329 projects in its latest procurement exercise. Average prices were €77.62/ MWh for large power plants (500 kWp to 8 MWp) and €87.23/MWh for projects below 500 kWp.

Figures from the US Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) show that utility-scale solar set an installation record in the first quarter, with 3.6 GW of new capacity additions. Texas made up the largest share of this capacity, with more than 1.4 GW.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has allocated RMB500 million (US$78.1 million) for the incentive scheme for residential PV in 2021. Chinese electronic engineer TBEA is set to raise its controlling stake in polysilicon manufacturer Xinte Energy as it attempts to fund a planned 100,000-tons-per-year fab in Inner Mongolia.

Belgian mechanical engineering group John Cockerill wants to set up its electrolyzer gigafactory for the production of green hydrogen in northeastern France. Galp Energia plans to install a 100-megawatt electrolyzer to power its refinery in Sines, Portugal, with green hydrogen, by 2025.

Long distance, point-to-point transport of green hydrogen for industrial use can harness the cheap solar electricity available in some parts of the world but distributing the energy-storage gas to individual refueling stations, for vehicle fuel cell use, will likely have to depend on production nearby.

Such a decision, which industry body the CPIA is adamant has already been announced, could make all the difference to investors struggling with a surge in equipment costs fueled by the polysilicon shortage. The all-important National Energy Administration, however, has yet to confirm whether the CPIA’s interpretation is correct.

Goldi Solar is setting up a 2 GW factory in the Indian state of Gujarat, increasing its manufacturing capacity to 2.5 GW. The new facility will use micro-gap module technology to produce mono-facial and bifacial modules with peak power outputs exceeding 600 W.

International researchers have placed a low-dimensional metal-halide perovskite capping layer on top of a metal-halide perovskite film to provide hermetically sealed encapsulation and enhanced photocarrier properties. The cell has a short-circuit current density of 23.5 mA.cm2, an open-circuit voltage of 1.15 V, and a fill factor of 0.779.

An inflection point for European solar is beginning to take shape as the industry finds itself in a period of acceleration and transformation. pv magazine’s European editors – Emiliano Bellini, Sandra Enkhardt, Gwénaelle DeBoutte, and Pilar Sánchez Molina, along with Jonathan Gifford – look at four trends shaping the market.