Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Cemil Seber – managing director EMEA / vice president global marketing, product management & corporate strategy at REC – spoke to pv magazine at the recent Intersolar 2023 trade show about the company’s focus on heterojunction (HJT) tech. He said REC retains a technological edge over its rivals and new players entering the HJT segment, and hinted at potential capacity expansion plans.

The China Photovoltaic Industry Association has released new data indicating ongoing expansion in Chinese solar exports, while Aiko Solar has scrapped plans to issue Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) on the SIX Swiss Exchange.

India’s TrinanoTechnologies has developed a nanocoating for solar modules that reportedly increases power generation by up to 4% due to its light-trapping, anti-reflection and self-cleaning properties.

Swiss startup Insolight said that it has finished a new agrivoltaic pilot project in Lucerne, Switzerland. It said it will monitor the facility for three years to assess PV performance and its impact on agriculture.

Scientists in Germany have assessed the performance of balcony solar modules connected to an e-bike battery and found this combination provides a stable and continuous operation over three days. They tested two system architectures based on passive and active hybridization and said both system designs offer satisfying results.

Insolation Energy, an Indian solar module manufacturer, is setting up a 600 MW PV cell production facility. It is also expanding its panel production capacity from 700 MW to 1.2 GW.

Research carried out by China‘s National Photovoltaic Quality Inspection Center shows that new n-type TOPCon modules are living up to their promise, outperforming the previous generation of p-type PERC products. Data gathered over six months from a fixed-tilt PV system showed that the n-type products produced 3.69% more energy, and also suffered much lower performance losses.

Maxeon Solar Technologies says it has invested $70 million to upgrade its panel factory in Mexicali, Mexico, to 1.8 GW. The remaining capacity is provided by a 700 MW facility that the Singapore-based manufacturer operates in Ensenada.

Decarbon Venture has launched what it claims to be the world’s first “swappable” solar generator at half the weight and double the power rating of other products on the market.

Finnish scientists have tested a new eddy current-based soldering method for ribbon tabbing in solar cells and have found it considerably reduces the number of cracks and damages caused by thermal-mechanical stress in the process. They claim the new technique may already compete with conventional soldering methods in commercial production.