Improving diamond wire sawing to reduce kerf loss in solar wafer production
Researches in China have sought to assess how lateral vibration in diamond wire sawing can increase kerf losses in solar wafer manufacturing and have developed a predictive model than can reportedly help reduce them. Their analysis showed that, with constant sawing parameters, smaller wafers suffer from greater excess kerf loss.
Floating PV system with ring-like floater geometry
Scientists in China have investigated the hydrodynamic performance of a novel modular floating photovoltaic system. They did so using a novel hybrid approach, which integrates viscous-flow effects from computational fluid dynamics into a potential-flow solver. They analyzed the new system with varying numbers of panels, either in a single chain or a parallel configuration.
French city favors domestic modules in 6.8 MW solar carport tender
The city of Grand Nancy, France, awarded a 6.8 MW solar carport tender to Holosolis, tying the 2027 project to its planned 5 GW factory in the Grand Est region.
Researchers identify main source of wide-bandgap solar perovskite degradation
Scientists in Belgium have investigated how perovskite absorbers used in solar cell degrade under three different stress test types and have found that the interface between the perovskite layer and the electron transport layer suffers from weak thermomechanical stability, which creates the conditions for performance losses.
Encapsulant delamination behavior in PV glass recycling
Researchers in Spain investigated effective separation of encapsulants from PV glass with a focus on melting behavior and resistance to the hot knife-method of delamination. The results indicated that thermoplastic polyolefin encapsulants were the easiest to remove from the PV glass.
California now hosting canal top solar-plus-storage plant
California has completed the 1.6 MW Nexus canal-top solar pilot, adding a 75 kW iron-flow battery system as part of a $20 million state-funded project to test water and energy benefits.
IB Solar plans 4 GW TOPCon cell and module factory in India
IB Solar will build a 4 GW tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar cell and module facility in Uttar Pradesh, India, with an investment of about INR 30 billion ($340.2 million). The project has secured land allocation from the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority and is scheduled for commissioning by 2027.
DAS Solar enters back-contact business with 5 GW cell factory
DAS Solar has filed an environmental-impact assessment (EIA) for a 5 GW back-contact (BC) solar cell plant in Guizhou, China, expanding its existing manufacturing operations to supply large-scale and building-integrated PV (BIPV) installations.
Improving TOPCon solar cell performance with rear treatment techniques
Researchers in China have investigated four strategies that minimize TOPCon solar cell surface recombination centers and improve light trapping performance. They identified alkali polishing with micro-texturing as the most suitable technique to improve TOPCon cell open-circuit voltage and fill factor and the overall device performance.
Dow releases new silicone gel for high voltage PV
The company said that its Dowsil EG-4175 Silicone Gel resists temperatures of up to 180 C in next-generation IGBT modules used in inverters.
