Italy’s EU-made PV incentives raise specter of Chinese opposition
A World Trade Organization (WTO) official and several Italian lawyers recently spoke with pv magazine Italy about the timing of a potential Chinese legal challenge against Italy’s new solar measures, which exclusively provide incentives for high-performance PV modules produced in the European Union.
NREL interactive chart of solar cell efficiency now including ‘hybrid tandems’
The new cell category includes perovskite/silicon, perovskite/CIGS, III-V/silicon and perovskite/organic tandem PV devices. It will list the absolute record efficiency for all-perovskite, two-terminal tandems regardless of the number of junctions.
Climate change to drive value of rooftop solar
University of Michigan researchers have found that the value of rooftop solar will increase by between 5% and 15% by the mid-century across a range of US cities under moderate climate change, and by up to 20% by the end of the century.
New tech to demetallize, recrystallize solar cells from end-of-life PV modules
An international team of researchers has proposed a series of processes to recover silicon and other metals from recycled solar cells. Their goal is to reuse the recovered silicon in the PV supply chain.
Algorithms to detect underperforming rooftop PV panels
Australian researchers have developed multi-stage algorithms to remotely detect and accurately diagnose underperforming solar panels in residential and commercial PV systems.
Accelerated declines in solar cell prices since late March
In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, offers bite-sized analysis on solar PV module supply and price trends.
First Solar beats Q1 revenue expectations
US-based First Solar recorded $794 million of revenue in the first quarter, beating consensus estimates by about 10%.
Voltaic Systems unveils battery monitoring system for offgrid PV applications
The U.S.-based PV system provider for infrastructure and industrial equipment without grid access has launched a battery health monitoring software module for its flagship Core Solar Power Systems product line.
Midsummer, Kaisheng partner on thin-film solar production
China’s Kaisheng New Energy Technology has agreed to produce a new line of thin-film solar panels for rooftops under an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreement with Sweden’s Midsummer. The modules will be exclusive to the European rooftop market through Midsummer.
TÜV Rheinland certifies organic PV product based on IEC 61215 standard
German certification body TÜV Rheinland has announced the certification of the first organic photovoltaic (OPV) product – an organic PV foil from Germany’s Heliatek – based on the IEC 61215 standard.
