Wafer prices drop, inventory levels rebound despite operating rate cuts
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.
Perovskite solar cell based on lead iodide treated with 4-fluorobenzylamine achieves 23.62% efficiency
By regulating the secondary growth of lead iodide, an international group of scientists has built a perovskite solar cell with low non-radiative recombination and defect state density. The device reportedly exhibited superior stability in both humidity and thermal stability tests compared to reference cells.
Softbank, Longi develop 665 g/m2 heterojunction solar modules with 22.2% efficiency
Researchers from the two companies have built a lightweight and flexible silicon heterojunction (HJT) PV panel that measures 563 mm x 584 mm and weighs just 218.5 g.
Danish print finishing equipment provider offers turnkey pilot lines for perovskite, organic solar cells
Denmark-based Grafisk Maskinfabrik (GM) is now selling roll-to-roll turnkey pilot production lines featuring slot-die coating, available through its GM Functionals unit.
Larger, thinner… and weaker?
With hailstorms in Australia and the United States severely damaging solar arrays – including “golf-ball sized” hail at the 350 MW Fighting Jays project in Texas in March 2024 – insurers are raising premiums and reducing or canceling hail coverage. Everoze Partner Simon Mason discusses the challenges the industry faces in minimising its hail risk exposure.
Cooling bifacial PV thermal solar panels with jet impingement
Scientists created a model to study bifacial PV thermal (BPVT) solar panels using jet impingement and built an experimental setup to validate it. They achieved a thermal efficiency of 62.28%, while electrical efficiency peaked at 11.22%.
PV panel, battery production up to 45% more expensive in EU than in China, IEA finds
Despite the ongoing implementation of industrial strategies in other countries, the value of China’s exports will exceed $340 billion by 2035, according to the International Energy Agency.
Mitigation strategies against islanding in grid-connected PV systems
Researchers in India have proposed a new set of techniques to mitigate total harmonic distortions during islanding events, which occur in distributed generation systems when there are disruptions in the power grid. Compared to conventional approaches, it reportedly achieves faster detection times by leveraging real-time data analytics and dynamically adjusting to changing grid conditions.
Solar module manufacturing capacity could exceed 1.5 TW by 2035, says IEA
The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) latest report, which maps out the future evolution of clean energy manufacturing, says the combined global market for PV, wind turbines, electric cars, batteries, electrolyzers, and heat pumps will rise from $700 billion in 2023 to more than $2 trillion by 2035.
European team targets 20%-efficient perovskite modules using industrial processes
The LUMINOSITY project consortium aims to develop 20%-efficient metal halide perovskite prototype modules measuring over 900 cm², designed for a 20-year lifespan and compatibility with roll-to-roll (R2R) processing.
