Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Singapore-based PV module manufacturer REC Group has launched in Australia a new series of rooftop solar panels with power ratings ranging from 450 W to 470 W and efficiencies of up to 22.6%.

Detroit-based Grounded has introduced a new all-electric recreational vehicle (RV) built on a GM platform.

Falling solar equipment prices, bulk module orders, and an expansion in domestic solar manufacturing capacity are driving a solar boom in India. The government can add further impetus if it tweaks domestic content rules.

Sweden-based Epishine has launched a developer kit based on its 6-cell 50 mm x 50 mm organic PV module for prototyping and testing its use in battery-free indoor sensing and monitoring devices.

Dracula Technologies has built an organic photovoltaic (OPV) module factory in France to make OPV devices with digital printing technology for connected objects. The facility can produce up to 150 million cm² of OPV modules per year, with the first shipments scheduled to start in 2024.

South Korea’s Rural Development Administration has created an energy system for greenhouses that combines photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) panels with a ground-source heat pump. It is said to compensate, via the PVT panels, the typical shortcomings of geothermal energy and to be able to reduce heating and cooling costs in greenhouses by up to 78%.

Qcells has expanded its $2.5 billion solar factory in the US state of Georgia. The move is the first phase of its factory expansion plans, increasing module production capacity to more than 5.1 GW.

Scientists from Spain have outlined several scenarios for developing building-integrated PV solutions in a case study building in Palma de Mallorca. Their economic analysis stressed the importance of electricity pricing schemes for the viability of BIPV projects in the Mediterranean area.

Axitec Energy India has announced the establishment of 600 MW of pilot solar module lines in India. CEO Tanmoy Duari told pv magazine that 300 MW of the planned capacity in Gujarat and another 300 MW in Tamil Nadu will produce n-type TOPCon solar modules. Production will start in the first quarter of 2024.

Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has harnessed sub-millimeter ceramic particles to store energy in a concentrated solar thermal system. Its pilot plant in the state of New South Wales has successfully reached temperatures of 803 C through this method.