Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Guangdong Electric Power Development (GDEP) has bought 118 MW of Trina Solar panels for $0.12/W. It says it will use the modules for several solar projects in China’s Shandong province.

Chinese company Hunan Rich Photovoltaic Science and Technology is set to invest over €300 million in the development of a 1 GW solar panel factory and 200 MW solar power plant in Serbia. The agreement is one of two the country’s Minister of Mining and Energy has signed with Chinese companies this week.

Scientists in Czechia have conducted a techno-economic analysis of a green hydrogen production system powered exclusively by photovoltaic and wind energy. The system uses surplus energy for water treatment and, according to its creator, can achieve a levelized cost of hydrogen of $3.12/kg.

The subsidiary operated a module manufacturing facility in Lannion, Brittany, northern France. According to Recom, the annual production capacity of the Sillia plant had been expanded from 50 MW in 2017 to 500 MW. The Recom Group as a whole remains unaffected by this liquidation and is in the process of consolidating its European cell and module manufacturing in one central location in Padua, Italy.

Researchers in Japan have analyzed the warming effect of photovoltaic system on land surface temperature around the Kushida River Basin for ten years and have found this value increased by an average of 2.85 C.

Under Czechia’s new rules for agrivoltaics, farmers and developers will not need approval to change land designations and zoning plans for agricultural areas devoted to PV generation. The provisions currently only allow agrivoltaics to be deployed in orchards and vineyards.

A new report prepared under the Indo-German Technical Cooperation on Innovative Solar provides a comprehensive overview of floating solar potential in India. It also provides projections for installations from 2024 to 2040.

The solar modules are based on the record-breaking 25.32%-efficient 2D/3D perovskite solar cells that the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne unveiled in July 2023. The panel has an aperture area of 27.22 cm2, and were encapsulated by glass-glass encapsulation technology combined with an edge seal of the module under UV light illumination. 

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.

Infinite Mobility, a developer of solar-powered bikes for last mile delivery fleets and commuters, is shipping samples to potential distributors in Europe, a month ahead of series production.