Manufacturing

In other news, Canadian Solar revealed it shipped 14.5 GW of solar modules in 2021 and China Power said it installed 1.22 GW more solar generation capacity last year.

Developed by Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE and ASYS Automatisierungssysteme GmbH, the new machine is claimed to increase the print process throughput by a factor of 1.5.

This week sees new technoeconomic analysis published on different aspects/materials for heterojunction: Important to consider as Europe in particular looks to be betting big on this technology for its manufacturing comeback. And a new report from NREL in the United States examines progress in degradation and durability to increase module lifetimes.

Researchers in Sweden are currently testing three kinds of coatings — hydrophobic, superhydrophobic and slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces. The goal of the new technology is to halve ice adhesion compared to standard modular glass and ensure 96% light transmittance.

Scientists in Germany have developed two kinds of solar cells based on n-type doped electron-collecting poly-Si on oxide (POLO) junctions with aluminum-alloyed p+ contacts. Both devices are claimed to be possible upgrades of PERC technologies. The best-performant cell is an IBC device showing a power conversion efficiency of 23.71%, an open-circuit voltage of 711.5mV, a short-circuit current of 41.3mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 80.9%.

Danish BIPV specialist Dansk Solenergi has added two more tiles to its product range – an 18.15%-efficient dark grey panel and a 16.7%-efficient terracotta product. Both panels have an operating temperature coefficient of -0.34% per degree Celsius.

With a PV panel surface area of 309.83 sq.m, the solar tree is officially certified by Guinness World Records (GWR) as the largest solar tree in the world.

An Iranian-Italian research group has simulated a double-junction tandem solar cell based on perovskite and tin sulfide. They said that it can reach an efficiency rating of between 22.9% and 28.92%.

With polysilicon production capacity having been rapidly rolled out after last year’s shortages, China analyst Frank Haugwitz has suggested global manufacturing capability for the ethylene vinyl acetate used on PV panels could struggle to keep pace with what is expected to be another record year of demand for solar.

Developed by researchers in Saudi Arabia, the novel approach considers both the temperature-dependent power yield and the solar module time to failure (TTF), among other factors. According to its creators, the model can be applied to all kinds of module and cell technologies.