Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Longi, and Tongwei have predicted steep losses for fully fiscal year 2025, as persistent oversupply and falling solar module prices continue to pressure margins across China’s PV manufacturing sector.

A research team from Osaka Metropolitan University have developed a donor-acceptor-donor molecule that can spontaneously self-assemble into nanoscale structures and offer a more stable route to built-in p/n heterojunctions in organic solar cells.

A Chinese-Swedish research team has boosted the performance of tin-lead perovskite solar cells by modifying additives and post-treatment processes. The device also demonstrated improved stability, retaining 60% of its initial efficiency after 550 hours at 85 °C under maximum power point conditions.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.

With silver prices rising, more large solar manufacturers are expected to switch to copper for cell metallization. Radovan Kopecek of ISC Konstanz tells pv magazine that he expects the entire industry to follow. Ning Song of the University of New South Wales says a small efficiency tradeoff may be acceptable if the cost savings are significant and do not introduce new reliability risks.

IEA-PVPS Task 15 has launched its first modeling intercomparison exercise on coloured building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) and is inviting PV modelers and researchers to evaluate their methods using real-world performance data.

Fujiyama Power Systems has started production at its 1 GW solar cell manufacturing facility in Dadri, India, with all output intended for in-house use to strengthen supply-chain security and support domestic content programs.

Scientists from French research institute CEA-Liten have identified hydrogen migration in doped selective layers as the primary driver of UV-induced degradation in silicon heterojunction solar cells. They have also found that combined light and thermal light-soaking treatments can partially restore performance and improve long-term UV stability.

Halocell Energy is set to benefit from the development of a sovereign supply chain for high-purity precursors to perovskite after signing a memorandum of understanding with Queensland advanced materials company Lava Blue.

Researchers from KAUST, TU Delft, and LMU Munich have improved the performance of monolithic perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells by modifying the physical structure at the front of the bottom heterojunction solar cell.