China

The manufacturer has launched sodium-ion products online. Production has begun and will be easily scalable, according to the CATL chairman. Researchers have been keen to make the technology work as it offers a cheaper, more environmentally friendly alternative to lithium-ion products.

An announcement by GCL-Poly to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday about the company’s hydrogen plans made no mention of any intent to deploy carbon capture tech to mitigate the emissions of what would otherwise be considered a ‘grey’, fossil fuel version of the energy storage medium.

The latest update to the Photovoltaics Report produced by research organization the Fraunhofer ISE has offered up the usual slew of interesting stats on the state of solar across the continent.

…but cell manufacturer Aikosolar is expecting a reversal in fortune for the first half of the year and has blamed rising solar panel material costs.

According to the China Nonferrous Metals Association, polysilicon prices declined by around 1.4% last week. In other news, Gaoce announced another 20 GW PV wafer factory and Hareon Solar filed for bankruptcy.

With this new factory, the annual production capacity of the Chinese PV inverter maker has reached 23 GW.

The 120 MW PV facility was grid-connected in late 2020 is located at an industrial park in China’s Shandong province. Sungrow supplied its string inverters for the project.

The latest global PV industry outlook published by trade group SolarPower Europe, has indicated tight supply of the solar panel raw material is expected to persist this year but the trade body said it would be unlikely to drive further price rises.

Longi’s 25.19% efficiency rating for its new p-type TOPCon solar cells, confirmed by the Institute for Solar Energy Research in Hamelin, is reportedly a world record.

Also, Wafer producer Zhonghuan Semiconductor has further reduced the prices of its products.