Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

The Office of the President has turned its focus to solar panels, announcing the removal of the bifacial solar panel Section 301 tariff exclusion and addressing issues of stockpiling during trade cases, alongside promoting the nation’s manufacturing base.

Intensified trade measures against China via higher tariffs on imported solar and battery cells are a significant policy step, but the impact is clouded by global manufacturing shifts, price decreases and looming US Department of Commerce trade complaints.

With solar module oversupply triggering a price freefall in 2023 and no recovery in sight, market consolidation, inventory pile-up, technology shifts, and challenges to reshoring PV manufacturing are set to affect all levels of the solar supply chain.

Researchers at the German research institute have found that indirect gravure printing for metallization of silicon heterojunction solar cells reduces silver consumption and cycle times to below 0.5 seconds per cell, while still enabling conversion efficiencies of up to 20.7%.

A Chinese-Canadian research group has utilized for the first time a cadmium iodide doping technique to stabilize the blade coating process in the manufacturing of solar cells based on formamidinium lead iodide (FAPbI3) perovskite. The academics built a cell showing a considerable increase in efficiency compared to an identical device without cadmium doping.

Praveer Sinha, CEO and managing director of Tata Power says the company’s 4 GW solar cell factory in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu will be commissioned from next month. It will reach peak production capacity of 4 GW over a period of three months.

SEG Solar has secured a land-use agreement for a solar-focused manufacturing site in an industrial zone on the Indonesian island of Java. The $500 million plan will involve the production of 5 GW of silicon wafers, 5 GW of solar cells, and 5 GW of PV modules.

Scientists in China have demonstrated a photovoltaic-thermal system that utilizes Tesla valves to increase cooling and efficiency. The system was found to have better performance compared to PVT systems made with several different cross-sectional structures.

The administration of US President Joe Biden has raised tariff rates on PV cell imports from China from 25% to 50%. It has also increased the tariff rates for semiconductors, electric vehicles, and EV batteries from China, among other goods.

The Chinese manufacturer said the new product has an efficiency of up to 19.46% and a temperature coefficient of -0.30% per C. It is available in bright red, light gray, brown, green, blue-green, orange, and ocean blue.