Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Worksport, a U.S. technology company, has announced a protective cover for pickup trucks fitted with solar PV modules. The kit includes a battery and an inverter and is meant to be a portable power source for leisure activities, such as camping, or as a temporary backup to recharge electronics or small appliances during power outages.

A Spanish research team has developed a set of techniques to repair ribbon busbar interruptions in PV panels without resorting to expensive electroluminescence images. The scientists warned that the proposed approach should not be used with modules that did not pass some basic safety tests.

Austrian manufacturer Aerocompact has developed the SN2 Q PLUS solar mounting system, which can support PV modules measuring up to 1,310 mm x 2,500 mm. It has an installation angle of between 5 degrees and 10 degrees.

An international research group has developed a novel technique enabling the creation of contacts at low temperatures. The novel contact types are reportedly able to enhance cell efficiency by up to 3%.

The Chinese module manufacturer led an international research team seeking silicon material savings and efficiency gains in the development of heterojunction PV devices. The cell achieved a certified power conversion efficiency of 26.06% with a thickness of 57 μm, with Germany’s Institute for Solar Energy Research confirming the result.

The novel methodology is reportedly able to track global maximum power point and reduce power losses in partially shaded PV systems by up to 33%. It uses a backstepping controller (BSC) algorithm to adjust the pulse width modulation signal and a genetic algorithm to compute the BSC gains to achieve an optimal PV system outcome.

Developed by the University of Toledo, the cell achived the highest efficiency ever reported for flexible cadmium telluride solar cells to date. The device reached an open-circuit voltage of 861 mV, a short-circuit density of 27.8 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 71.7%.

Canadian Solar says its new 14 GW vertically integrated cell and module factory will require an investment of CNY 9.63 billion ($1.33 billion), while Aiko Solar says it will invest CNY 9.97 billion in a 10 GW facility.

Researchers in Sweden have developed a new PVT module using an aluminum alloy structure between the thermal absorber and the photovoltac cells. This architecture reportedly reduces thermal expansion by 20%, thus increasing the chances of mitigating cracks in the PV unit.

The German research institute is investigating the use of commercially available vacuum-based evaporation equipment to manufacture perovskite thin films and contacts layers in the fabrication of perovskite-silicon tandem cells.