Crystalline silicon vs. thin film at high latitudes
A four-year analysis conducted at a testing field in eastern Poland has shown that crystalline solar panels offer a stronger performance than thin-film panels at high latitudes. The tests revealed pronounced seasonal variability across all technologies, with thin-film modules showing markedly lower capacity factors than crystalline silicon, particularly in winter.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: DK Electronic starts copper paste production
DK Electronic Materials has launched mass production of high-copper paste, with full gigawatt-scale manufacturing lines to be operational by the fourth quarter.
Solar wafer prices stable, with emerging downward pressure despite policy interventions
In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.
Goldi Solar releases 665 W back-contact PV panel with 24.6% efficiency
The Indian manufacturer has introduced its new Heloc Plus G12R Series interdigitated back-contact solar module series, delivering power outputs ranging from 635 W to 665 W and efficiencies between 23.5% and 24.6%
Solex Energy, ISC Konstanz unveil new back-contact solar module concept
Indian manufacturer Solex Energy Ltd has partnered with Germany’s ISC Konstanz to upgrade its TOPCon cell line and adopt back-contact and perovskite–silicon tandem technologies. The company also unveiled a new back-contact solar module concept, slated for commercial production by fiscal year 2027..
Japanese utility invests in perovskite solar PV startup
J-Power announced an investment in US-based perovskite solar specialist Active Surfaces, along with plans to pilot product tests.
‘Solar modules could be produced in Europe at €0.15/W’
At the Modules and Material Worksop in Konstanz, organized by solar manufacturing engineering company RCT Solutions and ICS Konstanz, experts from the European PV equipment production industry gathered to discuss the current and future trajectory of manufacturing costs, technology advancements and equipment and raw material capabilities. RCT Solutions CEO, Peter Fath, told pv magazine that a European 1 GW module assembly facility using the same supply chain as Chinese Tier 1 counterparts could reach module manufacturing costs of €0.11-0.12/W.
SoftBank fine-tunes PV-battery tech for high altitudes
Japan’s SoftBank Corp. has launched a four-year program backed by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) to advance high-density batteries and high-efficiency solar cells for high-altitude platform station aircraft.
Ascent Solar testing CIGS modules for power beaming, marine applications
The US-based developer of copper indium gallium selenide thin-film PV products said its modules will be tested without modifications by companies developing marine PV and power beaming applications.
Machine learning-based fault detection technique for bifacial PV
A UAE research team developed a hybrid 1D-CNN and random forest model to detect multiple faults in bifacial PV systems, including dust, shading, aging, and cracks. Using simulated I-V curves and a 180-day synthetic dataset, the model achieved up to 100% accuracy in general state detection and 97.6% in specific fault classification.
