solar modules

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.

Opes Solar Mobility has opened a 12,000-square-meter facility near Leipzig, Germany, to produce flexible photovoltaic modules for commercial and recreational vehicles, supplying partners across Europe, Africa, and South America.

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.

Algerian researchers have built a single-stage solar and battery desalination system for brackish water that uses a hybrid spotted hyena optimizer and maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm to improve efficiency. Simulations and real-time tests showed high performance, steady water output, and low salinity under changing solar conditions.

Colombia has approved COP 8.35 trillion ($2.1 billion) for its Colombia Solar program to equip 1.3 million low-income households with PV systems between 2026 and 2030.

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.

RatedPower has introduced a 3D simulation feature to improve accuracy in utility-scale solar design, enabling more precise yield modeling that reflects terrain variations and shading, validated against real production data.

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.

pv magazine spoke with energy and environmental law expert Anatole Boute about the past and future role of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in regulating trade disputes related to clean energy technologies amid current geopolitical tensions. He noted that despite recent protectionist efforts to revive the solar manufacturing industry, the European Union still strives to remain compliant with WTO rules.

Mercedes-Benz unveiled its first car prototype with a silicon-free, 20%-efficient nanoparticle solar coating that powers the vehicle even when off and uses modules thinner than a human hair.