Hanwha Q Cells opens largest solar factory in the Western Hemisphere
The 300,000 sq ft factory in Dalton, Georgia has the capacity to produce 12,000 PV modules per day – 1.7 GW worth annually for panels able to produce the same peak generating capacity as the Hoover Dam.
Exciting excitons
A research team from Columbia University has designed organic molecules that can produce excitons with a longer lifecycle than inorganic equivalents. The excitons have the potential to amplify the amount of electricity generated by the photons a solar cell absorbs.
New York Senate passes the biggest renewable energy mandate in the US
The 70%-by-2030 renewable energy provision in legislation S6599 is second only to Washington DC’s 100% by 2032 aim, and includes targets of 6 GW of distributed solar by 2025 and 3 GW of energy storage by 2030. It is expected to pass the assembly today.
Norwegian wafer maker and US mounting system supplier join the solar gold rush
It is not just the big beasts of Chinese solar that are investing in aggressive expansion as high-efficiency wafer maker NorSun and tracker supplier GameChange Solar make big announcements. The New York company, however, may fall foul of President Trump’s America First trade mantra by opening production lines in the Far East.
Longi claims new record for bifacial half-cut module as production equipment orders pour in
The Chinese monocrystalline panel maker said its 72-cell bifacial product has reached an ouput of more than 450 W on the front side. The result was confirmed by Germany’s TÜV-SÜD.
US solar equipment supplier set to bank on Longi ambition
New York State-based Linton Crystal Technologies announced plans to bring its Chinese ingot production equipment business under one roof just hours after its major customer outlined its intent to manufacture even more monocrystalline panels.
Rise of bifacial lifts profits for the world’s tracker companies
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.
Solar creeps into chemical production with new nylon synthesis process
A team of researchers at NYU have presented a new chemical reactor type that synthesizes a precursor for nylon production through electrosynthesis, rather than a thermal based reaction.
America’s Green New Deal is going to happen at state, not federal level
While U.S. senators Ed Markey and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduce a resolution for a clean energy package, legislation has been tabled in six states aiming to implement 80-100% clean energy by 2050 or earlier.
Singlet fission may raise theoretical efficiency of solar cells to 44%
According to a U.S. research team, new nanomaterials relying on dyes based on diketopyrrolopyrrole and rylene can generate a singlet fission reaction that extends the life of harvestable electronic charges.
