Shanghai Tianchen enters solar cell production with 20 GW factory
The Chinese investment firm said the factory will have an initial solar cell capacity of 5 GW and will also produce storage systems. The project requires an investment of CNY 11.6 billion ($1.67 billion).
Machine learning method to identify residential PV adopters, reduce soft costs
Researchers have defined a new machine learning-based methodology that reportedly reduces customer acquisition costs by about 15% or $0.07/Watt. It is based on an adapted version of the XGBoost algorithm and considers factors such as summer bills, household income, and homeowner’s age, among others.
Solar module prices remain at 13-week low, spread against M10 cell narrows from January high
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.
Inverted perovskite solar cell achieves 24.8% efficiency via new additive
The additive consists of a molecule known as 4-guanidinobenzoic acid hydrochloride (GBAC), which is a raw material and intermediate commonly utilized in organic synthesis, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and dyestuff fields. The solar cell has a p–i–n structure and, thanks to the new additive, showed considerably reduced defect density on the perovskite film, which in turn results in reduced non-radiative recombinations.
India’s IB Solar deploys new 400 MW solar module manufacturing line
The company’s director Abhinav Mahajan told pv magazine the new 400 MW solar panel production line will become operational by July this year. The facility can produce M10, half-cut, 144-cell modules.
Average silver price expected to drop 2% to $21.30 per ounce this year
The US Silver Institute’s “World Silver Survey 2022” report shows that the price of the metal will fall slightly this year despite increasing demand from the PV industry.
Strong revenue growth for biggest Chinese solar panel makers in Q1
JinkoSolar, Long, JA Solar, and Trina Solar have all reported impressive growth figures for the first quarter of this year.
Euro solar is Surfacing
M10 Solar Equipment, a German joint venture, may have shown Europe’s solar manufacturers how to scale their gigafactories by using Siemens’ plant simulation software to ramp up production of its innovative shingled-matrix solar cell production equipment, explains Tobias Wachtmann, director of global glass and solar for Siemens.
Construction begins on solar cycling path in Netherlands
The Dutch province of North Brabant will deploy a 500-meter-long solar bike line and test its performance over a 5-year period. The PV system will be integrated into the asphalt top layer and will consist of 600 solar panels of an unspecified type.
First attempt to build UV-stable perovskite solar cells that harvest energy from ‘black lights’
A UK research group has fabricated perovskite solar cells that can harvest energy from near-ultraviolet (UV-A) indoor LED lights. The devices achieved an efficiency of 26.19%, an open-circuit voltage of 0.90V, a short-circuit current of 1.42 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 77.56%, resulting in a maximum power output of 991.21 μW/cm2.
