Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Planning ahead is crucial to ensure the Indian solar industry bounces back quickly and the slowdown is not carried forward to 2021-22, say BloombergNEF analysts even as they estimate 75% fall in PV imports in the first quarter of year 2020 over the previous quarter and revise annual capacity addition forecasts.

Solar manufacturing’s recent move toward larger wafer/cells throws into focus the need for effective cell-cutting techniques to handle the processing of these cells into half cut or even smaller formats. pv magazine looks at the landscape for cell cutting, as the technology reaches maturity and moves into the mainstream of cell/module production.

A new, non-destructive technique has been proposed by researchers who say identifying early-stage discoloration in EVA encapsulants can help detect degradation in solar panels before power output is affected. The IIT Bombay group used an ultraviolet accelerated aging test during 34 days on three encapsulant samples.

U.S.-owned analyst Wood Mackenzie expects solar demand to decline but predicts the market will recover, with the prospects for the energy transition remaining intact.

Developers are also expected to drag their heels over project completion during the first half of the year as the safeguarding duty applied to imported Chinese and Malaysian solar products is due to expire at the end of July.

While China continues to be the top solar module exporter to India, Thailand doubled its module exports to India from $55.05 million in 2018-19 to $110.39 million during the first nine months (April-December) of the current fiscal. Vietnam’s module exports to India also rose sharply from $91.97 million to $127.21 million.

The thin-film cell was manufactured through a low-temperature process and doping with alkali elements.

Bids are invited for supply of multi-crystalline solar modules, with peak power output of minimum 325 Wp each, to different substations in various districts of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Bidding closes on March 5.

Fraunhofer ISE researchers have integrated stress and temperature sensors within a PV module. They claim that the devices cover a very minimal part of the cells, and that their interaction with the module and the cell itself is quite limited. The sensors can be manufactured as part of a regular cell manufacturing process.

Predicting which technological pathway will dominate in solar cell production is somewhat of a fool’s errand. A battle is currently underway between several of solar manufacturing’s big guns regarding both wafer size and p-or-n-type technology, and the outcome remains to be seen.