Quality

What is your recommendation for investors when buying PERC modules? Can LeTID loss be completely recovered in the field? Can one be sure that there is no LID and LeTID in n-type cells? Presenters, Andrea Viaro, head of technical service Europe, JinkoSolar, Stefan Roest , CTO, Eternal Sun & Spire Solar and Paul Grunow, technology consultant, board of the PI Photovoltaic Institute Berlin AG answer these and other questions from a recent pv magazine webinar.

Mercom Capital Group’s Q1 2019 Solar Funding & M&A report has registered $2.8 billion in venture capital, public market and debt financing, up from $2.5 billion a year ago. Large scale project financing reached a record $5.58 billion across 43 deals and there were 18 solar corporate M&A transactions.

Often, it is not inverter faults that frustrate customers – such things happen – it is poor customer service. Here we look at the first of a series of cases that will be discussed at the pv magazine quality roundtable planned for Intersolar Europe, in Munich, which indicates what the industry must avoid in future.

Celebrating its one year anniversary during Solarex, Turkish monitoring and AI startup Solarify is looking to reduce false alarms from utility scale PV projects. Based out of an incubator in Ege University in the coastal city of Izmir, Solarify is on the hunt for international partners.

Things are hotting up in the tracker world as the desire to squeeze down the price per Watt of solar power intensifies. And the rise of the trackers is attracting some well-known businesses to buy their way into the field.

The new CEO of SolarPower Europe, Walburga Hemetsberger, explained her goals for the development of the European solar industry in the next 10 years when interviewed by pv magazine during the association’s SolarPower Summit in Brussels.

Our next pv magazine webinar is approaching and has already attracted interest. Is it possible to control LID and LeTID and, if so, how? Here, Andrea Viaro from webinar partner Jinko Solar gives an insight into the manufacturer’s experience.

The Korean government is planning to introduce new rules for carbon footprint certification, minimum efficiency levels and industrial standards for solar and wind energy. The measures are intended to make the domestic renewable energy industry grow while securing sustainable competitiveness, the administration said.

Though we’re unlikely to see a return to the days of double-figure GW annual installation levels, Japan will stay at the top table of solar. Last week, pv magazine visited PV Expo Japan, part of Tokyo’s World Smart Energy Week, and found plenty of market developments to discuss, along with healthy interest from major players.

The U.S. manufacturer has rolled out its new A-Series modules as the first product using its NGT solar cells, based on larger wafers and a streamlined manufacturing process. But will it be enough to get SunPower back in black?