Norwegian Crystals proceeds with 6 GW PV ingot plans
Norwegian Crystals said it has secured all relevant permits for a new manufacturing facility in Norway. Construction is expected to start by the end of this year. The factory will have an initial capacity of 3.6 GW by 2026 but will eventually reach 6 GW at a later stage, according to the company.
PV-driven rechargeable control module for ‘cyborg cockroaches’
Japanese researchers have built ultra-soft PV devices and ultra-thin electronics that can be placed on the curved abdomens of cockroaches without affecting their mobility. The system can be used to monitor hazardous areas, or for urban search-and-rescue operations.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: Maxwell secures 7.2 GW order for HJT solar lines
Maxwell Technology has secured orders for its heterojunction (HJT) solar cell production lines, while TBEA has agreed to sell 336,000 metric tons of polysilicon to JinkoSolar in the 2023-30 period.
Sharp unveils black-framed 410 W half-cut solar panels
Sharp’s newest PV modules feature white backsheets and are made for the needs of design-oriented customers.
Solar tech theft rising in Germany amid supply bottlenecks
The Saxony State Criminal Police Office in Germany has blamed the energy crisis and growing solar demand for an increase in the theft of modules and inverters.
Longi brings special 66-cell solar panels to Europe
Longi’s new modules are based on M10 wafers with 66 solar cells and a newly designed frame. The special module configuration enables installation in landscape format, as the panels can also be fixed to the short side of the frame.
SunDrive achieves 26.41% efficiency with copper-based solar cell tech
SunDrive, an Australian solar technology company, has achieved 26.41% efficiency with a full-size silicon cell using heterojunction technology.
Nano-grid home runs solely on DC power
A team of researchers at Purdue University are retrofitting a 1920s home to run completely on DC current.
The economics of perovskite solar manufacturing
Scientists in Switzerland put together a detailed analysis of the projected costs of designing and operating a 100 MW perovskite solar cell production line in various locations, taking in labor and energy costs as well as all materials and processing. The found that perovskite PV could be cost-competitive with other technologies even at much smaller scale, but noted that this still depends on the tech proving its long-term stability, and impressive achievements in research being successfully transferred to commercial production.
US solar panel shipments rose by 32% in 2021
The US Energy Information Administration’s latest report shows a steady climb in PV module shipments last year.
