Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Tata Power’s greenfield 4.3 GW solar cell and module manufacturing plant in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu is expected to start PV module production by the end of this year.

Scientists in Turkey have developed a new algorithm to optimize the efficiency of PV-powered water pumps. The novel technique is based on the Extended Kalman–Bucy filter, which is a predictor-corrector algorithm used extensively in control systems engineering for estimating unmeasured states of a process.

Trina Solar said it will use the equipment at its factories in Huaian, Yangzhou, Dongtai, and Tinghu, which are all in Jiangsu province.

Pricing is beginning to cool slightly, but financing terms have changed from 2.99% to 4.99% for a 25-year loan.

Multiple factors affect the productive lifespan of a residential solar panel. In the first part of this series, we look at the solar panels themselves.

It is estimated that 10 GW of solar modules in Germany suffer from prematurely aging backsheets, with sites of all sizes affected. pv magazine Germany’s Cornelia Lichner looks at how to detect and repair such defects.

Huasun Dali started producing high-efficiency 210 mm HJT solar cells this week, and is expected to achieve an average efficiency of 25.5% in mass production.

Italian researchers have looked at the potential of thermal and electrical energy storage to improve self-consumption rates in buildings when coupled with PV-powered heat pumps. They have concluded that such an approach could yield self-consumption rates of more than 80%.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.

Ascent Solar has achieved a 15.2% efficiency for a copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) cell in production trials by replacing cadmium sulfide with a new material in the manufacturing process.