LG Electronics launches 370 W ‘paving’ panel with 21.4% efficiency
The PV manufacturer wants to modernize its production operations in South Korea to expand premium module output. It has also announced a new 400 W+ panel.
Pushing the boundaries of PV cell sensitivity
Scientists in Australia and the United States have managed to ‘upconvert’ light from below the silicon bandgap into high-energy light that can be captured by silicon solar cells.
India installed 7.6 GW of solar in the last fiscal year, and plans another 8 GW by April
Some 5.9 GW of utility scale PV generation capacity was added in 2019-20, plus 1.7 GW of rooftop solar, with domestic module manufacturers enjoying around 40% of the market.
Covid-19 weekly round-up: Biden’s $2tn green recovery program as Germany prepares to return to normality
Plus, even stay-at-home orders and plunging commercial energy demand failed to take the sting out of Australia’s solar duck curve and China’s GCL System counts the first-half cost of the public health crisis.
Tandem solar modules vs commercial crystalline
Researchers in France have tried to predict the competitiveness of tandem PV modules against commercial crystalline products in 2030. Crystalline products will be 22-24% efficient in a decade, according to the researchers, possibly 25% if interdigitated back-contact heterojunction versions become mainstream. To compete, tandem devices will need to offer similar life spans and degradation rates, plus efficiencies of 30%.
Ukraine defines level of retroactive FIT cuts
Parliament has adopted Draft Law 3658 which can now be signed into law by the president. Payment reductions for solar have been further eased and curtailment will now be compensated but talk of extending the duration of the newly-reset FIT levels appears to have fallen by the wayside.
Ukraine’s law on FIT restructuring has passed: The expert view
Ukrainian renewable energy lawyer Svitlana Teush takes a look at the law which will define the cuts to be applied in Ukraine after extensive negotiation between government and the clean energy industry.
Brazil eliminates import duties for cells, modules, inverters and trackers
The Brazilian government has u-turned over solar equipment import duty by introducing a measure to remove the 12% levy for 101 types of module plus some inverters and trackers. President Jair Bolsonaro had vetoed a similar proposal by the Senate and House of Representatives in November, stating it would be too costly.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: Risen plans 13 GW output expansion, Datang reveals tender results
Risen Energy has announced plans to expand its annual cell and module output by 13 GW. Datang, meanwhile, has published the results of the module tender it held for this fiscal year.
Vikram Solar plans 3 GW wafer, cell and module fab in Tamil Nadu
The engineering, procurement and construction services contractor – which has a 1.2 GW module production facility near Kolkata – will establish the factory under a five-year timescale.
