Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

pv magazine is compiling a guide to home solar installations, aimed at those who are interested in installing but are new to the market and want to make an informed decision. We have spoken to associations, installers and industry specialists in major solar markets across the globe to compile best practice guidance and advice that aims to be applicable to home solar installations anywhere in the world. The first part of the series aims to help homeowners looking to embrace PV identify the best installers on the market.

US-based software provider Solesca presents new ways of handling PV system unavailability and solar module degradation. Engineers have a key role to play in this evolution, ensuring more accurate and reliable energy predictions for solar projects.

New research from France has compared the performance of agrivoltaics in Spain and the Netherlands and have concluded that the former – a dry region with high solar radiation levels – offer more technical advantages over the latter, which is characterized by abundant rainfall and lower solar radiation.

Wood Mackenzie forecasts the Middle East and North Africa region will emerge as a tariff haven and overtake Southeast Asia as a top solar export hub, becoming the primary exporter of solar panels to the US towards the end of this decade.

A three-year field experiment comparing the performance and reliability of passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC), tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon), and silicon heterojunction (SHJ) modules in desert climates found that HJT modules exhibited the highest degradation, while TOPCon modules showed the lowest degradation.

Solartag has developed a 71 W solar tile with a weight 14.2 kg/m² and a power conversion efficiency of 16%. The new product relies on black PERC cells and is standardized for mass production, according to the manufacturer.

New doesn’t always mean better: Passivated emitter and rear contact solar cells have earned their place through real-world reliability and cost-effective manufacturability.

In a new special, pv magazine Brazil reports on how rising Chinese demand, price volatility and the global tech race are reshaping Brazil’s solar market, with major manufacturers weighing in on supply shifts, pricing and the outlook for storage.

Scientists in Qatar have outlined a new approach to optimize residential bifacial PV systems by combining south-facing and vertically mounted east-facing configurations. The novel methodology reportedly results in a 21.6% increase in a system’s net present value.

The South Korean inkjet technology company is expanding to provide inkjet printing systems for perovskite solar photovoltaic manufacturing. An investment by a corporate venture fund backed by Japan’s Epson Group is expected to help it expand the business and widen the applications of its industrial inkjet technology.