Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

The Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has received solar manufacturing proposals from Grew Energy, Insolation Green Energy, Premier Energies Global, Saatvik Solar and other companies. Land allotment letters for these industrial units were recently given away by the state’s chief minister.

While the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is reshoring solar manufacturing in the United States, raising import tariffs may slow momentum. The actions of the incoming Trump administration are tough to forecast at this point.

Prices across the solar supply chain remained in bearish territory into the fourth quarter of 2024. Trade and regulatory developments have continued to preoccupy the industry and dampen trading activity.

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.

The German research institute said it is currently exploring three copper metallization methods: Screen printing, FlexTrail printing and rotary printing. The proposed technology is reportedly compatible with either TOPCon or heterojunction bottom cells.

New research from the Netherlands shows that using free-space luminescent solar concentrators could be used to considerably increase bifacial solar module performance in vertical residential setups. The scientists are confident that a variety of bifacial PV systems incorporating this technology can be designed and deployed in the future.

Smaller solar manufacturers have been shuttering production lines, but not at a pace fast enough to return profit margins to healthy territory. InfoLink’s Amy Fang considers what lies ahead for PV companies in the near term.

A new report by the United States Studies Centre (USSC), a joint venture of the American Australian Association and University of Sydney, encourages Australia to deeply engage in global solar supply chains and reduce its reliance on China.

Thai researchers developed three organic phase-change material (PCM) mixtures with nanoparticles to cool PV modules and improve efficiency. They used lauric acid blended with aluminum oxide, copper oxide, and magnesium oxide in an optimal 94:6 weight ratio, boosting module efficiency by up to 14.11%.

Researchers in China have integrated a wide-bandgap perovskite solar cell with a hybrid back contact device in a four-terminal tandem cell that achieves high efficiency and stability. Key for the strong performance was a new surface passivation strategy that the research group adopted for the top cell.