Highlights

Half-cut solar cells have quickly grown to become an industry standard, promising more power through reduced cell-to-module losses, among other advantages. Innovative processes have been introduced to reduce cell damage during the actual cutting process, but even these still leave behind an unpassivated area at the edge of the cell, which can result in performance losses. As cell efficiencies increase, this will only become more of a problem. pv magazine examines the possible solutions.

Researchers at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) identified a new magnesium-based alloy that could be used for hydrogen storage. Furthermore, Hyundai Mobis announced a $1.1 billion (€0.95 billion) investment in two new fuel cell plants in South Korea, while South Korea’s SK Group formed a joint venture with US hydrogen solutions company Plug Power to develop green hydrogen across several Asian countries.

Luoyang Glass is planning to deploy two solar glass production lines with an annual capacity of 1,200 tons each and wafer maker Wuxi Shangji has secured a big supply agreement from Longsheng New Energy. Furthermore, Tongwei has reported increasing profits driven by its polysilicon business.

The Singapore-based manufacturer operates two factories in the Baja California state bordering the United States and the entire output of the facility in Mexicali will be shipped exclusively to the US market. Furthermore, the company’s chief revenue officer, Mark Babcock, told pv magazine that a manufacturing facility is also being considered in the US.

The double-glass product has dimensions of 2,384 x 1,303 x 35 mm and a weight of 38 kg. It is based on the company’s n-type TOPCon 2.0 cell technology dubbed Niwa Max, which the manufacturer said reached efficiencies of up to 25.4% in the laboratory. The module’s efficiency ranges from 21.73 to 22.53%.

The South African Department of Mineral Resources launched a tech-neutral procurement process for 2 GW of capacity in August 2020 in response to a chronic short-term electricity supply gap in the country.

Unigreen Energy plans to open a 1.3 GW, vertically integrated factory in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea. Initially, the facility will have an annual module production capacity of around 500 MW.

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Fortescue Future Industries has revealed plans to develop a 1 GW solar PV module manufacturing plant in Australia, after confirming that it has acquired a 60% stake in Netherlands-based renewable energy specialist High yield Energy Technologies Group.

NanoPV Solar is investing $36 million in a facility to manufacture crystalline silicon and thin-film PV modules, in a move that will create around 500 new jobs.