Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

The European Court of Justice in July agreed with the Chinese manufacturer, which had said the European Commission had no right to collect duties of 47.7% on any products exported before the company had been notified – in October 2016 – that it was having its access to a minimum price agreement withdrawn by the EU.

Compared to other techniques based on chemical reactors and organic solvents, the proposed method is said to be able to maintain a “good mechanical yield” in the recovered solar cells. According to its creators, this technique allows the reuse of silicon from the recycled panels in the production of new solar cells.

China PV module manufacturer Risen Energy has completed the acquisition of Dunan Solar’s polysilicon business and is now operating a 12,000 MT factory. Shanghai-listed PV equipment supplier JYT Corporation wants to build a 24 GW polysilicon manufacturing facility in Sichuan Province.

Frank van Mierlo, the CEO of 1366 Technologies, is a betting man. And he’s betting your humble narrator that high-efficiency tandem solar cells are the near-term commercial future of solar.

A new report published by the European Technology and Innovation Platform outlines the need for continuing research into the reliability of PV systems and components, and for the collection and sharing of performance data. The report recommends a holistic approach to reliability, going beyond current testing standards to identify new degradation mechanisms, and making use of sensors and drone imaging to monitor systems in the field to prevent and report on system failures.

New outdoor tests conducted at Saudi research center King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have shown that an increase in temperature affects the performance of a tandem perovskite/silicon solar cell not only because of voltage losses but also because of current mismatch between the two sub-cells.

Scientists in Europe took a very close look at the thin amorphous silicon layers used in heterojunction and tandem solar cells, building a full picture of the material’s structure at the nanoscale. Their findings could help scientists solve the long-standing mystery of light induced degradation.

China’s largest PV manufacturers claim limits placed on solar glass production two years ago, to prevent over production, are now causing an industry bottleneck.

In a new paper published in the journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, renowned PV scientist Pierre Verlinden examines the solar industry’s trajectory towards the 70 TW of installed capacity that will be needed by 2050, as the best choice for meeting climate targets set out in the 2015 Paris agreement. Silver consumption and recycling, according to Verlinden, will be the biggest challenges in the years to come, as well as ensuring balanced growth and avoiding a major installation rush in the years close to 2050.

Researchers in Spain have analyzed the most important technologies for the development of intermediate-band solar cells (IBSC), a solar PV technology that was conceived to exceed the Shockley–Queisser limit. They identified four established technologies that are currently being adopted to manufacture IB materials and IBSC prototypes. Their future goal is to find the appropriate material to fabricate cheap and very efficient IBSCs.