Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

India’s solar cell and module production capacity is expected to rise in the years ahead.

The solar cell is based on the titanium carbide MXene and is claimed to have retained around 99% of its initial efficiency for more than 600 days of ambient air storage. The device was built using spray coating to directly deposit the titanium carbide flakes on the cell’s rear side.

Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a system that can be operated at a voltage of around 12V, with a 95% recovery rate for lost power after cleaning. The waterless system can be operated automatically via an electric motor.

European solar manufacturing is back on the agenda after over a decade of minimal activity. Ambitious proposals are in place to reactivate a booming industry with investment earmarked, factories planned, sustainability goals announced, and political strategies outlined to support the projected growth of PV installations. Can these plans be realized? The UP Initiative will spend the second quarter delving into this question.

Elsewhere, Wafer manufacturer Shangji Automation has secured a long-term wafer supply agreement from cell maker Aiko Solar and wafer maker Zhonghuan Semiconductor reported record revenue for 2021. Furthermore, GCL-Poly appears to have backtracked on its plan to rename the business GCL Technology

Researchers from Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology have presented the results of a low-cost method of generating carbon-free hydrogen. In other news, Norwegian fuel cell producer Nel ASA said it was ready to increase its electrolyzer production capacity to meet the European Union’s raised ambitions for renewable hydrogen, while oil giant Petronas Eneos announced plans to set up a hydrogen production plant in Indonesia.

A document compiled by three Italian renewables associations identifies with extreme precision the area that is allowed to be used for power generation in the two most common agrivoltaics configurations — solar arrays with elevated solar modules and PV systems deployed between crop rows.

This week has seen NASA announce the completion of a new folding array set to power a mission deep into our solar system, while scientists continue to work on new applications to take such explorations even further from the sun. New measurements also promise routes to higher efficiency in cadmium-telluride PV, and details emerge of one of thinnest solar cells seen so far.

Scientists in Spain have designed a BIPV forced ventilated facade that can be used as support for heating and a domestic hot water (DHW) building system based on air source heat pumps (ASHPs). In the proposed system configuration, the heat pump is expected to cover building heating demand at all times, regardless of the performance of the solar array.

The solar modules for the solar array were supplied by Chinese manufacturer Longi, which is a major partner in the project.