Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

The Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a black perovskite solar cell that reportedly achieved the the highest efficiency ever reported for PV devices built with this perovskite material and a dopant-free hole transport layer based on the P3HT polymer. The cell was also able to retain around 93% of its original efficiency after continuous illumination for 570 h.

A new imaging system for contactless defect detection in roll-to-roll printed thin film solar cell manufacturing lines is available from InfinityPV, a Danish printed electronics equipment manufacturer. The so-called ultrafast laser beam induced current mapping system is suitable for manufacturers of perovskite, organic, kesterite, copper indicum gallium diselenide (CIGS) and amorphous silicon PV foils and can be retrofitted into existing roll-to-roll lines.

Guosheng says it will invest CNY 5.2 billion ($722 million) in a new 10 GW heterojunction (HJT) solar cell production facility.

Ascent Solar, a US-based manufacturer, has achieved an efficiency of 17.55% for its copper, indium, gallium and selenide (CIGS) technology. It says it plans to release a new CIGS solar module with this efficiency rating soon.

A Wood Mackenzie report forecasts that China will hold more than 80% of poly, wafer, cell and module manufacturing capacity for the next three years.

SunDrive Solar, a Sydney-based startup working to replace the silver in solar cells with copper, has obtained AUD 11 million ($7 million) from Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to expand its metallized cell production to a commercial scale of more than 100 MW per annum.

An international research group has assessed the economic feasibility of exclusively powering remote villages in Pakistan with off-grid solar-plus-storage projects. They said that their proposed system configuration has a “justifiable” net present cost.

Researchers in Bangladesh have simulated a solar cell based on a copper bismuth oxide material, used as an absorber, with a hole transport layer made of copper(I) oxide (Cu2O). In the experiment, the device achieved a power conversion efficiency of 29.2%, an open-circuit voltage of 1.02 V, a short-circuit current density of 32.49 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 87.91%.

Chinese module maker BYD is producing a new bifacial monocrystalline panel at its manufacturing facility in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The module has a power output of up to 355 W and a conversion efficiency of 16.33%.

Hering Group, a centuries-old German construction and engineering company, says it has acquired the PV manufacturing facilities of organic solar film developer Asca, based in Kitzingen, Germany. The previous owners of the facilities describe Asca as a “largely loss-making” venture lacking in sales.