Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Mercom’s latest report says the Indian solar sector saw significant changes in the players’ market share in 2022—a year heavily impacted by policies like basic customs duty on cells and modules and Approved List of Models and Manufacturers.

Kaneka’s two-terminal tandem perovskite solar cell has achieved the highest efficiency ever recorded for such a device based on an industrial Czochralski (CZ) silicon wafer. It has an open-circuit voltage of 1.929 V, a short-circuit current density of 19.5 mA cm−2, and a fill factor of 77.55%.

First Solar has agreed to pay $38 million to buy Swedish manufacturing startup Evolar AB, as it seeks to expand development of high-efficiency tandem PV tech.

U.S. Homeland Security officers executed a search warrant on a solar panel manufacturing facility in Jacksonville.

Swiss manufacturer Meyer Burger says that in August it hopes to begin distributing its new gray solar tiles, which are already being used in pilot projects.

An industry survey led by SolarReviews and NABCEP found two-thirds of solar installers expect high electricity prices to drive demand.

The new edition of the International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaic (ITRPV), published this week, finds that 295 GW of PV modules was shipped in 2022, and that prices for silicon PV modules fell by 7% over the year. The report finds that price premiums for n-type modules are now marginal, and the technology grew to represent 15% of the market, and is expected to keep growing over the coming decade.

Borosil Renewables said the solar glass capacity of its German arm GMB Glasmanufaktur Brandenburg GmbH has increased to 350 tonnes per day (tpd) from 300 tpd following the modification and cold repair of its furnace.

Perovskite-silicon tandem technology expert Gianluca Coletti explains what cycles the PV industry and scientific community experience every time there are new jumps in power conversion efficiencies at cell level. According to him, we are experiencing a much faster turnover of efficiency records typical of the early stage of development of a new technology holding an incredible potential.

University of New South Wales researchers have identified four failure modes caused by damp heat in heterojunction solar panels with a glass-back sheet configuration. The failures could result in power losses ranging from 5% to 50%.