Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

The Asian Development Bank says developing countries in Asia and the Pacific should consider developing their own solar industry supply chains as the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed their over-reliance on China to carry through the energy transition.

Solar season had already started in the month of March. The demand for solar consumption is the highest during April-June quarter as summer picks up. This is the time when factory runs with full efficiency. India was estimated to install nearly 8 GW of solar panels in 2020, in which 90% consumption happens in utility-scale […]

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.