Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

India is expected to add around 20 GW of new renewable energy capacity (16 GW solar and the balance wind) in FY 2024. This is 33% up from 15 GW installed in FY 2023.

Continued innovation in PV cell technology will have major impacts as PV is deployed at “multi-terawatt scale” over the next two decades, says a global team of scientists.

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.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.

Mukesh D Ambani, the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, says the company aims to open a fully integrated solar gigafactory by the end of 2025. It also plans to initiate megawatt-level sodium-ion cell production by 2025.

Solar glass manufacturer Borosil Renewables is seeking technology partners to develop and scale its PV module recycling initiative.

The solar capacity installation in the first six months of 2023 was about 15% less year-on-year.

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.

Massachusetts-based Re:Build Manufacturing has unveiled the RBM600 Solar CZ Puller, a solar ingot processor designed to manufacture high-purity polysilicon ingots for solar panels.

But domestically manufactured solar modules still cost 45-50% more than Chinese products because of import duty on cells and higher cost of domestic manufacturing.