A gigawatt solar factory in Europe? Why it must be in France
With Swiss solar equipment company Meyer Burger laying plans for a module fab in North Rhine-Westphalia and Norwegian panel maker REC Group mulling a fab in Sarreguemines, northeastern France, Xavier Daval – from French renewables association the SER – says it is time Europe resumes its path to a stable solar manufacturing industry, not least because of the rising proportion of solar module costs accounted for by shipping.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: Lower wafer prices, new modules, and a factory under construction
Longi has announced more cuts to wafer prices, while cell manufacturer Tongwei has started building the first phase of its 30 GW Jintang PV manufacturing base. Risen Energy has also released solid financials, while JA Solar has unveiled plans to start selling its 500 W-plus solar modules.
Poland added 236 MW of solar in two months
The country’s installed PV capacity reached 1.83 GW at the end of last month, according to the national grid operator.
Micronesia launches tender for utility scale solar-plus-storage
The government of the Federated States of Micronesia wants to increase power generation capacity on the islands of Yap and Kosrae.
Harvesting atmospheric water to cool down PV panels
Scientists from Saudi Arabia have proposed a new PV panel cooling technique which employs an atmospheric water harvester. The device uses waste heat from the PV panel to collect atmospheric water at night and then releases it during the day to cool down the module. The researchers claim the device may also be improved to produce liquid water, which could be used for the cleaning of the modules.
Flexible, 22.6%-efficient perovskite cells for indoor use
The developers of a perovskite device designed for use under illumination of 100-500 lux say it could be manufactured for $78-108 per square meter.
Solar canopies can put PV panels in some new and interesting places
A major advantage of this design is the ability to string cables over a longer distance without the support needed in traditional racking approaches.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: New capacity expansion plans and 100 MW of PV for a poverty-alleviation project
Three major Chinese PV manufacturers have announced capacity expansion plans over the past week. Chint also released its 2019 financial results, while Kstar unveiled a new inverter supply deal.
Strong Q1 for First Solar, Enphase, Sunrun
U.S. residential solar installer Sunrun reported strong solar deployments and revenue to start 2020, even with orders decreasing by as much as 40% for periods in March. Micro-inverter manufacturer Enphase’s first-quarter revenues exceeded expectations as the company set an all-time gross margin record and announced plans for a new manufacturing location.
French solar equipment supplier touts fully automated production line
Startup Solean claims that its new fully automated production equipment offers a highly flexible way to bring panel manufacturing back to Europe.
