Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Belgian grid operator Fluvius plans to install around 403,000 smart meters in solar-powered homes by 2025, when their use becomes mandatory. So far, the company has installed 553,500 smart meters in Flemish homes with PV systems.

Researchers in Taiwan have developed an efficient carrier transport and defect passivation approach at the nickel oxide/perovskite interface in perovskite solar cells, enabling devices with 42% efficiency under indoor lighting conditions, and over 20% in simulated sunlight.

Spain-based Elementos de Sujeción Galvanizados (ESG) has developed a new hot-dip galvanized ground screw for PV systems, designed to be driven directly into the ground and withstand heavy loads.

The Indian manufacturer has unveiled an 18-busbar TOPCon bifacial solar panel featuring a power conversion efficiency of 23.35%.

Researchers from Poland have assessed how texturized glass used as the front cover of building-integrated photovoltaic panels affects performance. They have found power yield could be up to 5% lower compared to modules based on conventional glass, with reflection parameters being up to 88% in visible region.

After conducting theoretical studies on gallium phosphide, titanium solar cells for years, a group of Spanish researchers has now sought to build the first intermediate band device based on this material combination and has found it can achieve enhanced external quantum efficiency at wavelengths above 550 nm.

Martin Schachinger, the founder of pvXchange.com, reports that tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar module prices in Germany have fallen by an average of €0.010 ($0.0109)/W this month. Demand remains especially weak in the residential sector, while complex authorization processes are also challenging the commercial and industrial (C&I) and ground-mounted segments.

JinkoSolar and Trina Solar have separately reported that on-field testing shows tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar modules outperform p-type back-contact PV modules in monthly power generation.

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.

In a new paper published in nature communications, the Chinese solar manufacturer explained that the heterojunction back contact cell it unveiled in late 2023 achieved one of the highest open-circuit voltage ever reported for this cell technology, as well as smaller than usual short-circuit current losses. The results were confirmed by Germany’s Institute for Solar Energy Research (ISFH).