Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

The latest update to the Solar Energy Industries Association’s (SEIA) survey for solar workers and companies shows drastic outcomes for the industry if tariffs are imposed on countries under investigation.

The device is described as a heat engine with no moving parts that is able to produce power from a heat source of between 1,900 to 2,400 C. This concept is known as thermal energy grid storage (TEGS) and consists of a low-cost, grid-scale storage technology that uses thermophotovoltaic cells to convert heat to electricity above 2,000 C.

The proposed system architecture is claimed to offer more stability compared to conventional floating structures and reduces by up to 93% the contact area of the system with the water. The first system prototype was recently developed on a water reservoir in Alava, in the northeastern territory of the Basque Country.

The German company’s decision to cede market share to Chinese companies producing the material for solar panels, in order to focus on semiconductor-ready, electronic grade product, has seen it slip behind its rivals in terms of production scale.

The lead-free solar cell was modeled via a three-dimensional finite element method by an Iranian research group. The cell was designed without the buffer layer and with the addition of anti-reflection layer (ARL) strategies, as well as the use of periodic nano-texture patterns.

Manufacturing giant JinkoSolar has set another world record for n-type solar cell efficiencies with its TOPCon technology, this time pushing to 25.7%. The new world record was confirmed by China’s National Institute of Metrology.

Tongwei also announced it wants to expand its solar cell capacity to 70 GW by the end of 2022 and 102 GW by the end of 2023.

The floating facility will be built by Japan’s Shizen Energy and will sell power under unspecified conditions to local utility Syarikat Air Melaka Bhd (SAMB).

A Swiss-Japanese research group has used ionic liquids doping to improve the efficiency and stability of perovskite solar cells. Their champion device showed an open-circuit voltage of 1.16 V, a short-circuit current of 24.03 (mA cm−2), and a fill factor of 0.818. It was also able to retain around 95% of its initial efficiency after 1,000 hours of operation.

The facility was built with heterojunction modules and mounting systems provided by German companies Luxor Solar and Next2Sun, respectively. The distance between the panel rows ranges from 8 to 10 meters and the agricultural surface within the rows will be utilized by local livestock farmers as pasture.