Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

French company Dal’Alu has developed a high-capacity aluminum gutter designed to efficiently collect and channel rainwater from large roofs and solar panels. Its on-site profiling, modular components, and durable construction reportedly ensure rapid installation, long-term performance, and compliance with current building standards.

The facility will produce solar wafers for the U.S. market.

Plans to establish Australia’s first commercial-scale solar ingot and wafer manufacturing plant near Townsville in north Queensland are advancing with developer Stellar PV providing an early glimpse of the proposed 2 GW facility.

The duties range from 53.3% to 57% for U.S. producers and from 2.4% to 48.7% for South Korean companies and will remain in force for a further five years.

The Chinese manufacturer unveiled its new TOPCon bifacial TNC3.0 module at WFES 2025. The 1,500 V, IP68-rated panel offers over 85% bifaciality, a 0.26%/C temperature coefficient, and a 30-year warranty guaranteeing 88.85% output.

While completing pilot projects in the U.S. and Europe, Mirai Solar has certified its lightweight PV module designed to work as a shade screen in agrivoltaics applications, such as greenhouses.

Solar manufacturers are facing rising cost pressure as silver paste now accounts for up to 30% of total cell production costs. OPIS analyst Hanwei Wu tells pv magazine that module producers currently have limited ability to raise panel final prices, which is accelerating efforts to reduce silver use across all mainstream cell technologies.

Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have set a world record for selenium solar cells, achieving 10.3% efficiency for the first time above the 10% threshold. The breakthrough was enabled by optimized charge-selective contacts, light-driven crystallization, and post-deposition annealing, producing stable devices with a 1.03 V open-circuit voltage.

An international research group has conducted a literature review of capital expenditure-driven levelized cost of electricity optimization strategies for utility-scale PV systems. Tracking optimization, system voltage escalation, and advanced system design are identified as the most promising cost reduction areas. “The next wave of PV research must be LCOE-native, system-level, and deployment-validated,” a member of the research group said.

The Indian PV manufacturer has launched Conserv Augmensheet, a sheet encapsulant for insulation and sealing of busbar and junction box areas in solar modules. Supplied in reel format, the product supports automatic feed-in on fully automated module manufacturing lines, reportedly enabling higher productivity and consistent processing for solar module production.