Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Scientists in Turkey determined the optimal tilt angle for agrivoltaic projects associated with different crops in the central Mediterranean region, and other regions with similar latitude and climatic conditions.

Pixon Green Energy is expanding its solar module production capacity to 2 GW per year by adding a 1 GW unit with backward integration into 1 GW of cell manufacturing.

Jinchen says it aims to raise CNY 1 billion ($140 million) through a private placement of shares.

Arab countries are “punching above” their weight in their contribution to academic research on photovoltaics, according to analysis by UNESCO. The region is expanding its global share of scientific publishing across all key energy topics, but it is highest in solar.

In its latest monthly column for pv magazine, the European Technology and Innovation Platform for Photovoltaics (ETIP PV) presents the main findings of its White Paper on PV manufacturing. The report evaluates how policy and regulatory frameworks have evolved for European companies in the PV sector, and compares these frameworks to the PV industrial-policy evolution of key global markets such as China, India, and the USA.

Bluebird Solar, an Indian PV manufacturer, has developed half-cut mono passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) solar modules based on M10-sized cells. The modules are available with outputs ranging from 400 W to 550 W.

Scientists in the United Kingdom have proposed for the first time to deposit silver nanoparticles in electron transport layers used in perovskite solar cells to improve device performance. They found that an “optimal” concentration of silver nanoparticles may help to improve a perovskite cell’s charge transfer and extraction, as well as its efficiency.

Meyer Burger, a Switzerland-based heterojunction cell and panel manufacturer, says it will stop making PV modules in Germany, but it will continue to produce solar cells in the country to support its panel production operations in the United States.

New figures from the European Technology and Innovation Platform for Photovoltaics (ETIP PV) show that China can now produce tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) PV modules for between $0.160/W and $0.189/W. Costs in Europe, India and the United States, by contrast, could be as low as $0.243/W, $0.281/W, and $0.195/W, respectively. ETIP PV made the comparison based on production at a 10 GW integrated PV factory.

The costs of transporting a container from China to Rotterdam have already almost tripled due to ongoing tensions in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Houthi militants have been attacking merchant ships there for weeks, preventing them from entering the Red Sea and transiting through the Suez Canal.