Manufacturing

The Algerian electronics manufacturer said its solar business unit has not filed for insolvency, stating that it continues to operate as ‘normal’. The company also said that it is now working on two solar projects with a combined capacity of 100 MW.

Chinese scientists have developed a cell with a new blade-coating method and BTP-4Cl-12, a kind of acceptor that is a derivative of the Y6 acceptor, which is widely used in organic PV applications. The researchers also claim that the cells can maintain good efficiency levels, even if its surface is lightly expanded.

Trade body the Silver Institute says silver demand in the solar industry will dip slightly this year but remain near to previous record highs. Silver paste consumption for PV has been reduced due to advances in metallization techniques.

The nation’s only two poly manufacturers could both shutter factories in their homeland due to downward price pressure. OCI says it will maintain only 6,500 MT of its 52,000 MT annual production capacity in an operational state and Hanwha Chemical says it is ‘examining the situation’. Poly analyst Johannes Bernreuter has discussed the reasons for the crisis with pv magazine.

The Australian research team which developed the device said the higher efficiency was achieved through a nanowire design which eliminates the interface inside the titanium dioxide band.

The solar giant shipped 14.2 GW of modules last year, up 33% on 2018 for the high-water mark of another year dominated by Chinese manufacturers.

Saudi researchers have developed a cell which is said to exhibit improved structural and optoelectronic properties as well as enhanced carrier mobility and diffusion lengths. The feat was achieved by reducing voltage losses using a new passivation technique.

Spanish researchers have unveiled a monolithic nano-structured perovskite silicon tandem device they claim can reduce optical losses by more than a third compared to planar perovskite cells of the same kind.

Construction of the $2.87 billion factory is scheduled to start in March and manufacturing activity should be launched in 2021.

Researchers from three Japanese universities have developed a process based on inkjet printing they say could reduce the cost of perovskite solar cell production. The group fabricated small cells with efficiencies as high as 13.19%, a figure they claim is promising enough to offer the possibility of scaling up to commercial production.