The European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC) is urging the European Union to adopt legislation against forced labor in the PV industry, by explicitly calling for measures to prevent solar products produced with forced labor from entering the European market.

Indian scientists have produced high-purity polysilicon ingots from recycled solar cells using “spark plasma sintering” (SPS), and claim they may achieve a purity level comparable to commercially available products.

Despite soiling and mechanical stress, PV deployed between or close to rail tracks is not just a crazy idea, states a Bangladeshi-Australian research group. The scientists conducted a techno-economic analysis on a 128 kW demonstrator and found it may achieve a levelized cost of energy of only $0.052/kWh.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said in the 2023 State of the Union Address this week that European solar manufacturers face stiff competition from heavily subsidized Chinese rivals and noted that the bloc is launching an anti-subsidy investigation into electric vehicles from the country.

REC has developed a new series of heterojunction solar panels with efficiencies up to 22.6% and an operating temperature coefficient of -0.24% per degree Celsius.

Panasonic is now testing perovskite-based power-generating glass with Japanese property developer Mitsui Fudosan Residential at a new building in Kanagawa prefecture, Japan.

Sharp’s new IEC61215- and IEC61730-certified solar panels have an operating temperature coefficient of -0.30% per degree Celsius, with 21.51% efficiency.

Built by Danish researchers, the device also achieved a power conversion efficiency of 5.0%. They designed the cell with a soda-lime glass substrate, a tin oxide (FTO) layer, an electron transport layer made of titanium oxide (TiO2), a selenium absorber, a molybdenum oxide (MoOx) layer, and a gold (Au) metal contact.

Switzerland’s Dhp Technology AG says it plans to deploy new retractable PV systems at 45 motorway service areas in the Swiss cantons of Valais and Bern. The foldable arrays can be retracted and protected during extreme weather conditions or hail storms.

Dutch scientists have developed a perovskite-PERC tandem solar cell based on a new type of tunnel recombination junction that reportedly offers an improved device efficiency distribution. The cell uses a nickel(II) oxide layer that is intended to reduce electrical shunts in the perovskite top cell.