Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

REC has developed a new series of residential heterojunction solar panels with efficiencies ranging from 20.6% to 22.2% and an operating temperature coefficient of -0.24% per degree Celsius.

Bernreuter Research says the volume of polysilicon shipments into China dropped 28.5% year on year in 2023 to the lowest level since 2011. It predicts that imports could fall by another 40% this year.

Rather than pondering the introduction of trade measures against solar imports, Europe should be pragmatic about its short-term reliance on Asian panels while moving now to nurture and incentivize a domestic supply chain of the future.

Worksport, a U.S. technology company, has announced a protective cover for pickup trucks fitted with solar PV modules. The kit includes a battery and an inverter and is meant to be a portable power source for leisure activities, such as camping, or as a temporary backup to recharge electronics or small appliances during power outages.

A Spanish research team has developed a set of techniques to repair ribbon busbar interruptions in PV panels without resorting to expensive electroluminescence images. The scientists warned that the proposed approach should not be used with modules that did not pass some basic safety tests.

Austrian manufacturer Aerocompact has developed the SN2 Q PLUS solar mounting system, which can support PV modules measuring up to 1,310 mm x 2,500 mm. It has an installation angle of between 5 degrees and 10 degrees.

An international research group has developed a novel technique enabling the creation of contacts at low temperatures. The novel contact types are reportedly able to enhance cell efficiency by up to 3%.

The Chinese module manufacturer led an international research team seeking silicon material savings and efficiency gains in the development of heterojunction PV devices. The cell achieved a certified power conversion efficiency of 26.06% with a thickness of 57 μm, with Germany’s Institute for Solar Energy Research confirming the result.

The novel methodology is reportedly able to track global maximum power point and reduce power losses in partially shaded PV systems by up to 33%. It uses a backstepping controller (BSC) algorithm to adjust the pulse width modulation signal and a genetic algorithm to compute the BSC gains to achieve an optimal PV system outcome.

Developed by the University of Toledo, the cell achived the highest efficiency ever reported for flexible cadmium telluride solar cells to date. The device reached an open-circuit voltage of 861 mV, a short-circuit density of 27.8 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 71.7%.