solar industry

Reports of broken module glass with no obvious cause have begun to crop up at large PV projects. Module design, glass manufacturing, and interactions in the field between modules and trackers are at play and a clear solution has yet to emerge. Early signs suggest an update to certification standards may be needed.

China’s solar industry rebounded in 2023 after years of pandemic-related sluggishness. As the year draws to a close, pv magazine looks back at key highlights of 2023 and considers the prospects for 2024.

Europe is witnessing a surge in power purchase agreements (PPAs). Over the past four years, the number of European PPA transactions has trebled. More than 180 deals were signed in 2022 alone and the trend is expected to continue, especially for solar projects.

Oversupply is hitting some solar manufacturers hard but grid constraints and labor shortages are unlikely to hold the solar industry back in 2024.

On Nov. 6, the European Solar PV Industry Alliance (ESIA) published a recommendation paper in which it set out how its members envisage a European support scheme to foster the development of European solar. What chance does it have of actually achieving its goals? Götz Fischbeck delivers an assessment.

The application of busbarless cell interconnection approaches could unlock the potential of heterojunction (HJT) technology, primarily by reducing the historically high silver usage of negatively-doped, “n-type” cell technology. As HJT manufacturing increases, a wave of applications may very well be on the horizon.

Solar-industry companies need to forget ideas about office-based roles and look far afield to source the recruits necessary for the energy transition – and then they need to keep them loyal by offering a rewarding career.

Solar industry expansion is racing ahead but shortages of skilled labor could derail progress. Long-term solutions are required to support further growth. Benoit Ribeaud, partner at Everoze, explores how a workforce bottleneck is affecting the solar industry and calls for more action to alleviate recruitment pressure.

As solar module prices continue to drop to record lows, amid global oversupply, questions are being asked about how much inventory is sitting in European warehouses and when normal levels will return. With numerous estimates and assumptions swirling, EUPD Research’s Markus A.W. Hoehner and Ali Arfa have looked closely at the numbers in an attempt to provide a transparent view of the issue.

University of New South Wales academic Aihua Wang is the first female recipient of the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth Prize (QEPrize) for Engineering, after sharing the 2023 award with Andrew Blakers, Martin Green, and her husband Jianhua Zhao for their work developing the passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) solar cell. pv magazine caught up with her to ask about the achievement.