Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Hail events have historically posed a considerable risk for utility-scale solar projects, with weather creating up to $100 million in damages at large installations in US states such as Texas.

German wafer manufacturer Nexwafe is currently trying to commercialize its highly efficient monocrystalline wafer technology.

Longi said today it cut the prices of its wafer products by 30% and Trina announced it will build a 25 GW monocrystalline ingot factory in the Sichuan province. Furthermore, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that the Chinese PV industry produced 39.92 GW of solar cells in April, and Datang Group unveiled the results of a tender to procure 8 GW of solar panels.

Chinese manufacturer SPIC Solar says its new PV modules have power outputs ranging from 450 W to 460 W, and power conversion efficiencies ranging from 22.9% to 23.4%.

China-based researchers have developed a model for photovoltaic pavement, achieving a potential electrical output of 0.68 kWh/m2 and an efficiency of 14.71%. Through simulations across 255 Chinese cities, they have determined that electricity potential ranges from 0.70 kWh/W to 1.83 kWh/W.

The European Solar Test Installation (ESTI) has confirmed the results of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology’s (KAUST) new perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell. The 1 cm2 device also achieved an open-circuit voltage of 1.974 V, a short-circuit current density of 20.99 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 81.3%.

Norwegian startup Over Easy has validated the wind resistance of its vertical PV system for rooftops by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. Wind tunnel tests conducted by I.F.I. Institut für Industrieaerodynamik GmbH confirm that the system can function without ballast or fastening to the rooftop.

An international research team in China has used Czochralski n-type c-Si wafers from China-based Sichuan Yongxiang to build textured wafers with a thickness ranging from 65 μm to 55 μm. They have used the wafers in heterojunction solar cells ton hit efficiencies close to those of devices cells based on conventional wafers.

The mayor of Bilbao, Spain, has attributed the recent collapse of a local sports center’s roof to heavy rains and the presence of numerous solar panels, according to local news outlets.

India’s Gautam Solar is expanding its solar module production capacity to 1 GW by adding a 500 MW tunnel-oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) manufacturing line from Jinchen. The new line will start production by September.