Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Amid a backdrop of massive installations and evolving metrics, IEA-PVPS 2024 “Trends Report” encapsulates significant shifts in photovoltaic deployment across the globe, reflecting PV’s evolving role in energy systems and underscoring its capacity to meet global demands. The association explores the trends identified in the report, noting the milestones, regional dynamics, and the implications of increased PV penetration in energy grids worldwide.

Scientists in the Middle East have developed a series active filter to improve power quality in grid-tied PV systems, consisting of an inductor, two capacitors, and four transistor-diode pairs. The filter reduces total harmonic distortion in voltage and current waves at the inverter output.

India’s PV module exports surged 23-fold from fiscal 2022 to fiscal 2024, positioning the nation to potentially replace Southeast Asian countries as a top solar exporter to the US market, according to a new report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) and JMK Research.

An international research team has used data on Beijing’s public transit system to explore if bus depots could host solar installations and energy storage facilities to help reduce the load on the city’s grid. The researchers say they plan to generalize their proposed model to help other areas estimate possible return on investment of transforming other civic infrastructure into energy hubs.

Korean scientists have fabricated a perovskite-organic solar cell with a uniform sub-nanometer dipole layer. The device recorded a power conversion efficiency of 24% under testing, a new record for lead-based hybrid perovskite-organic solar cells.

PV InfoLink says that Chinese solar demand will reach between 240 GW and 260 GW this year, while European demand will hit 77 GW to 85 GW.

A team from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering has reinvented the design of screen-printed contacts to reduce costs and silver consumption, without sacrificing the efficiency of tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar cells.

India’s Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has proposed antidumping duties on solar glass imports from China and Vietnam. It says the landed cost of such imports aew lower than the selling prices and production costs of Indian manufacturers.

A Belgian-Dutch research group has designed a PV noise barrier that reportedly offers a good performance in terms of power yield, drivers’ safety and noise cancellation. Its payback time was estimated at between 6 and 10 years.

A case study by kWh Analytics demonstrated the value of building a resilient, weather-hardened solar facility.