Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Vietnamese manufacturer Irex has announced a new glass-glass solar panel with a power output of 265 W and a power conversion efficiency of 18.1%.

Solar PV modules are currently trading at price levels last seen in 2018 and 2019, according to an account manager at PVO International. EPC companies in Europe, in particular, are suffering. A lack of large-scale integrated PV production on the continent is also playing a role.

Planned to be located in Dobaspet, Karnataka, the manufacturing facility will be Emmvee’s second solar factory in the Indian State.

For the first time since 2019, Intersolar Europe has opened its doors. The pv magazine team is delighted to be on the ground in Munich this year to bring you the latest solar PV and energy storage developments, events, and trends from the event, as they happen. Stay tuned for our live updates over the next three days!

Scientists led by Cambridge University fabricated an ‘ultrathin’ solar cell, just 80 nanometers thick, using gallium arsenide. The III-V cell achieved 9.08% conversion efficiency, and its developers have demonstrated in simulations that it could reach 16% with further optimization. Given its light weight and intrinsic resistance to radiation, the cell could be suitable to power satellites and other applications in space.

Pixon Energy has launched mono PERC half-cut-cell modules with output capacities ranging from 375 Wp to 410 Wp. The five-busbar modules can be used in all types of PV installations, including off-grid, residential, commercial and industrial, and utility-scale projects.

Scientists in China have fabricated 11.78%-efficient fully printable perovskite solar cells by using an electrode made of waste toner carbon from printer cartridges. The cell achieved an open-circuit voltage of 0.88 V, a short-circuit current density of 24.64 mA cm, and a fill factor of 54.56%.

U.S. thin-film module manufacturer Sunflare is ramping up production at its factory in China. The company makes four different CIGS modules.

German equipment supplier M10 and research institute Fraunhofer ISE will unveil a new prototype stringer for shingled module layouts at the Intersolar Europe trade show later this week. Employing an offset layout for the shingles, the approach promises a relative efficiency gain of up to 6%, compared to a conventional half-cell module.

Australia’s PV module supply landscape could experience a supply shock as legislation emerges to stamp out the use of forced labor. Chris O’Brien, VP for the APAC region at Maxeon Solar Technologies, says that measures that have left modules stranded at the U.S. border could very well occur in Australia soon.