Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Indian solar manufacturer Waaree Energies has raised INR 1,000 crore ($122.4 million) from a number of private investors to support its module capacity expansion to 9 GW and its new cell line to 5.4 GW.

Maxeon has closed its last PV module factory in Europe, as it cannot remain competitive due to its small size and high raw material costs.

Germany’s Fraunhofer ISE is applying its FlexTrail-printing technology to the direct metallization of silicon heterojunction solar cells. It said the technique reduces the use of silver, while maintaining high efficiency levels.

Creaton and Autarq have developed a modular solar tile for complex rooftops. The product is reportedly compatible with all common PV inverters.

Enel Green Power’s initial tests show that the addition of DC/DC MPPT converters to a pilot PV plant has driven a 1% energy production gain. It now plans to deploy the solution on a 1 MW power plant in Italy.

Indian solar manufacturer NeoSol has unveiled its Black Pearls series of mono PERC modules. The power outputs range from 535 W to 550 W, with power conversion efficiency ratings between 20.7% and 21.33%.

Aptera’s solar electric vehicle, equipped with almost 700 W of PV cells, can drive up to 40 miles (64 km) on solar alone, or 1,000 miles on batteries.

Chinese researchers have developed a new solar cell with a planar n-i-p structure and an indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate. It also has a tin(IV) oxide (SnO2) buffer layer, a perovskite layer, a hole transport layer (HTL), and a layer made of copper. It was able to retain around 92% of its initial efficiency after 1,000 hours.

Swiss PV manufacturer Meyer Burger says it wants to rapidly expand its production of heterojunction solar cells and modules, following its recent supply agreement with US project developer DESRI.

Developers recently commissioned two different wine-related agrivoltaic projects in Europe.