Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

In February, non-profit EU solar panel recycling body PV Cycle announced it had collected 5,000 tons of modules in France, of which 94.7% could be recycled. A reader asked us about the remaining 5.3% and here, PV Cycle’s communications manager, Bertrand Lempkowicz, responds.

Chinese polysilicon manufacturer Daqo has secured a long-term supply agreement with PV equipment provider and monocrystalline wafer manufacturer Wuxi Shangji Automation, Shanxi Coal International Energy Group has unveiled a plan to set up a 10 GW heterojunction solar cell production fab and Longi has held its wafer prices.

Taiwanese cell manufacturer Inventec Solar reportedly halted production this month and Ireland is preparing to remove rooftop solar panel restrictions, according to the Irish Independent.

Trina Solar has made a PV cell by directly applying the unmodified i-TOPCon process, originally developed for Cz mono wafers, to cast n-type quasi-mono silicon wafers. It claims the average efficiency, tested in-house with a calibrated reference cell, is 22.98%.

The Institute for Solar Energy Research Hamelin (ISFH), the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Institute for Materials and Components in Electronics at the University of Hannover, as well as Centrotherm, Singulus, Meyer Burger and Von Ardenne are involved in a research project aimed at achieving a 27% conversion efficiency for silicon solar cells based on perovskite.

Scientists in Australia took a close look at the long-term performance of passivation layers in silicon solar cells, and discovered a surprising process of degradation and regeneration at work within the material. The results could have implications on the processes used in industrial scale solar cell production.

Researchers from the United States have used new passivated contact architectures to demonstrate a screen-printed silicon heterojunction solar cell on 40 micron thick standalone wafers.

India imported $1.3 billion worth of solar cells and modules from China in fiscal 2019-20, but domestic manufacturers are now demanding a level playing field to compete against cheaper imports.

State-run coal producer China Pingmei Shenma has revealed plans to enter the PV module business with a 5 GW production unit in Henan province. JinkoSolar, meanwhile, has started building a new factory for aluminum PV panel frames.

A South Korean research team has claimed that transparent PV technologies need to improve in terms of efficiency, stability and aesthetics before they can reach commercial maturity.