Floating photovoltaics may significantly reduce water evaporation at Aswan dam
The Aswan High Dam Reservoir is one of the world’s largest water reservoir and suffers from high water evaporation rates due to the region’s very hot and dry climate. Floating PV installations may be a remedy, while also offering a good match for hydropower generation.
Edge passivation improves shingled solar module performance
A group of scientists from the Germany’s Fraunhofer ISE has proposed a new metric to assess the performance of shingled solar panels. They also applied the so-called passivated edge technology (PET) to experimental shingled modules and found it can increase their pseudo fill factor without compromising their inteconnection quality.
Midsummer builds 200 MW CIGS solar module factory in southeastern Sweden
Swedish thin film solar manufacturer Midsummer has selected a factory in southeastern Sweden to develop its new solar module production facility, which will produce copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar cells for the European market.
French winery combines solar carports with EV recharging
Cordier, a winery in Bordeaux, France, is building solar carports at two of its facilities in southern France. The two PV arrays will be tied to 20 EV charging stations.
Solarwatt to close German solar module factory in August
The module manufacturing facility is located in Dresden, eastern Germany, and has an annual capacity of 300 MW.
Bluebird Solar launches 600 W TOPCon dual-glass PV modules
Bluebird Solar, a PV module manufacturer in India, recently unveiled its 600 Wp tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) dual-glass bifacial solar panels. They offer a power conversion efficiency of 23.25%.
JinkoSolar reports fire at PV module factory in China
Chinese module maker JinkoSolar says a fire broke out at its integrated module manufacturing facility in Taiyuan, China’s Shanxi province. It says the incident could affect its 2024 annual results.
UNSW researchers warn of surprising TOPCon solar module vulnerabilities
Researchers at the University of New South Wales claim to have identified three TOPCon panel failure types that are absent in PERC products. They explained that these failures may occur when the modules are exposed to high humidity and contaminants before encapsulation.
Agrivoltaics for cucumbers
Scientists in Israel have tested three different PV technologies to power a greenhouse hosting 400 cucumber seedlings. Their analysis has revealed that the PV module cover on the greenhouse’s roof has a “negligible” impact on crop yield, but they also noted that the greenhouse cover’s spectral transmittance and accumulated dust may negatively affect solar module performance.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: China may add 280 GW of new PV this year
China Securities has revised its annual guidance for China, predicting up to 280 GW of new PV installations this year, while glass manufacturer Kibing and wafer maker HySolar revealed new solar investment plans.
