CdTe

The sheer volume of new power lines which will be required to accommodate the rising tide of solar installations ensures copper has been included by the International Energy Agency on its list of minerals which must keep flowing if the energy transition is to stay on course. And it’s not production that’s the potential bottleneck.

German PV production equipment provider Singulus will supply the vacuum coating systems for the new production. The Chinese conglomerate currently operates CIGS panel production facilities at four different locations in China.

Rio Tinto plans to spend nearly $3 million on a facility in Utah to recover tellurium, a critical mineral used in solar panels.

“Determining how many years a solar panel will last can take, well, years.”

The in-country analyst has revised up its expectation for this year and says a healthy unsubsidized project pipeline will keep the numbers ticking over in 2021. The spending plans necessary to ramp up renewables targets in the next five-year plan, though, could put the nation on a collision course with the EU.

Another stalwart of the solar industry was able to take the necessary precautions in order to maintain a sense of normalcy during the pandemic, leading to a quarter of increased sales, net cash, and a positive outlook to finish off the year.

pv magazine editor Pilar Sánchez Molina recalls news from the PV sector of ten years ago as part of a new series. The insights offered will not only bring back memories for the pioneers of that exciting, challenging period but may also offer an idea of where we could be in 2030.

The Chinese state-owned manufacturer has started operations at its 1 GW mono PERC cell line after installing a 1 GW module fab last year.

Researchers in Australia have conducted a ‘cradle to grave’ life cycle assessment (LCA) of the four most widely used PV technologies. The academics say that cadmium telluride solar modules have the lowest life cycle impact, followed by amorphous, multi and monocrystalline silicon products.

U.S.-based Toledo Solar is trying to distinguish itself from First Solar’s cadmium telluride dominance by operating in the residential and commercial segments, which have long been unkind to the technology.