Manufacturing

Italian scientists have looked at how non-linear degradation curves could affect the profitability of large-scale solar projects. They found that full substitution of the modules after 10 years could be justified if the performance loss rate was higher than 1% per year.

Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI) has started accepting applications from solar manufacturers under the second phase of the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, with an outlay of about $2.4 billion.

Sunova Solar is offering five versions of its new solar panels, with power outputs from 555 W to 575 W and efficiencies ranging from 21.4% to 22.2%. They have a temperature coefficient of -0.31% per degree Celsius.

The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has released a new, interactive version of its research cell efficiency chart for a range of PV technologies.

India’s Polycab has unveiled compact, lightweight grid-tie string solar inverters with power outputs ranging from 1 kW to 5 kW.

German scientists have built a tandem perovskite-CIGS panel measuring 9 square centimeters, with organometallic perovskites for the top module.

The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has modeled the benefits of PV in highly glazed skyscrapers.

Enel, which already runs a solar factory on the Italian island of Sicily, said its new US plant with be its second global PV manufacturing facility.

Longi said it has achieved a 26.81% efficiency rating for an unspecified heterojunction solar cell, as confirmed by Germany’s Institute for Solar Energy Research Hamelin (ISFH).

The expected lifetime of PV inverters is significantly shorter than that of modules. In many projects, inverter replacement is included in financial calculations from the start, despite the high costs. Research is being conducted into the causes of faults to develop more durable inverters and components. But plant design can already improve the lifespan of inverters in use today, reports pv magazine Germany’s Marian Willuhn.