China

TCL Zhonghuan reduced its wafer prices by between 16% and 24%, while its competitor Gokin Solar is raising funds to build additional ingot and wafer capacity. Meanwhile, TW Solar announced a 3.4 GW solar plant across 52 fishponds.

Hong Kong Polytechnic University researchers have developed a binary organic solar cell (OSC) with a record power conversion efficiency of 19.31%. They invented a non-monotonic intermediate state manipulation strategy to lower the non-radiative recombination loss and boost efficiency.

Deye’s new three-phase hybrid inverters have efficiency ratings of up to 97.60% and European efficiency ratings of 97.0%. They are available in five versions, with power outputs ranging from 29.9 kW to 50 kW.

Longi said today it cut the prices of its wafer products by 30% and Trina announced it will build a 25 GW monocrystalline ingot factory in the Sichuan province. Furthermore, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that the Chinese PV industry produced 39.92 GW of solar cells in April, and Datang Group unveiled the results of a tender to procure 8 GW of solar panels.

Chinese manufacturer SPIC Solar says its new PV modules have power outputs ranging from 450 W to 460 W, and power conversion efficiencies ranging from 22.9% to 23.4%.

China-based researchers have developed a model for photovoltaic pavement, achieving a potential electrical output of 0.68 kWh/m2 and an efficiency of 14.71%. Through simulations across 255 Chinese cities, they have determined that electricity potential ranges from 0.70 kWh/W to 1.83 kWh/W.

TSUN’s new microinverter series has an input current of up to 18.5 A and an efficiency rating of up to 97.2%. The manufacturer claims it is particularly suitable for complex installation environments.

An international research team in China has used Czochralski n-type c-Si wafers from China-based Sichuan Yongxiang to build textured wafers with a thickness ranging from 65 μm to 55 μm. They have used the wafers in heterojunction solar cells ton hit efficiencies close to those of devices cells based on conventional wafers.

China-based Sofar has unveiled PowerMaster, a new modular utility-scale battery based on lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry. 

A new solar company has entered the PV market, pv magazine learned this week at SNEC in Shanghai. The company sells everything from PV modules and inverters to racking and wallboxes.