Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

At SNEC 2024 in Shanghai, pv magazine spoke with Puzant Baliozian, lead consultant of sector group photovoltaic equipment for Germany’s Machinery and Equipment Manufacturers Association (VDMA). He says tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) technology will dominate the solar market in the next 10 years and expects module manufacturers will compete to develop more creative product designs. He also believes that copper metallization will gain market share in heterojunction (HJT) module production in the next years. “In the upcoming decade, we will have less than mg/W of silver being used for both TOPCon and HJT technologies,” he stated.

French company HDF Energy has equipped its new polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) hydrogen fuel-cell production plant with a 500 kW solar project, by adjusting the PV modules and inverters to fit the sawtooth roof design.

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.

Researchers in China have built for the first time an inverted perovskite solar cell relying on a high-entropy hybrid perovskite material. The result is a device with an improved open-circuit voltage and fill factor, due to reduced non-radiative recombinations and optimized interface.

Researchers in Italy have developed a low temperature a blanket-cover encapsulation technique that reportedly improves the stability of perovskite PV devices. They said the new technique reduces thermomechanical stresses caused by both the encapsulation process and the temperature gradients occurring during accelerated ageing stresses.

The International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC) has imposed a 10% import tariff on solar panels to protect local manufacturers, attract investment, and deepen the value chain. The South African Photovoltaic Industry Association has questioned the lack of formal industry engagement, calling the timing “not ideal.”

At SNEC 2024 in Shanghai, pv magazine spoke with Martin Green, Scientia Professor at the University of New South Wales and solar cell technology expert. He said perovskite-silicon tandem technologies still have a long way to go before reaching commercial maturity and predicts silicon-based technologies will still dominate the market for many years. He also sees potential for copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS) solar cells and other absorber materials. “Until we don’t solve the stability issues with perovskite, is good to have other candidates,” he stated.

Researchers in Italy outlined a new model for estimating hydrogen production cost as a function of the plant’s component sizes. They tested both PV, wind, and hybrid production of hydrogen to determine the optimal size ratio for the 2030-2050 period. They also found that PV-powered hydrogen may currently achieve a levelized cost of hydrogen of €5.11/kg in Italy, with a PV ratio of 2.2.

German research institute ISC Konstanz has developed a new method to measure the contact resistance of solar cell interconnections made with electrically conductive adhesives (ECA). The proposed approach reportedly enables the precise characterization of both contact resistivity and bulk resistivity.

A research team from two Chinese universities claims to have fabricated an organic solar cell with the highest power per weight ratio to date. The device has a thickness of less than 1.5 micrometers.