Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Achieving and maintaining a capacity utilization factor (CUF) of 19% over 25 years without deration is feasible through careful selection of high-efficiency, low-degradation solar panels, and implementing robust design, maintenance, and monitoring strategies. By following the guidelines provided in this article, developers can ensure compliance with PM-KUSUM scheme and achieve sustainable, long-term performance of their solar power plants.

The updated IEA PVPS Task 12 Fact Sheet provides a comprehensive assessment of the environmental impacts associated with PV systems. It highlights the significant advancements made in PV technology, emphasizing improved efficiencies and reduced environmental footprints.

Meyer Burger will start production at its US module factory as it relocates its core operations from Germany to the United States. It is launching production of heterojunction solar modules and securing financing for a new cell plant.

India installed about 11.7 GW of utility-scale solar capacity and another 3 GW of rooftop solar capacity in the twelve months ending March 31, 2024.

AGL Energy has teamed with solar panel recycler Elecsome to explore the development of a PV materials recovery facility at the site of the coal-fired Bayswater power plant in New South Wales, Australia.

The Norwegian PV manufacturer praises the south central US state for “its robust clean energy, manufacturing ecosystem and workforce development programs” as well as its “its competitive business offerings and site acceleration options.”

At Intersolar in Munich, pv magazine spoke with Jenny Chase, solar analyst at BloombergNEF, about the incredibly low polysilicon prices, massive overcapacity, and increasing consolidation. According to Chase, this year there will be enough polysilicon capacity to produce 1.1 TW of solar modules, but global module demand is expected to reach around 585 GW. “That is a pretty huge delta,” she said, noting that the solar industry should also prepare for a series of “negative feedback mechanisms,” such as negative prices and excess of solar power.

As part of our Intersolar 2024 interview series, pv magazine spoke with Yana Hryshko, head of Solar Supply Chain Research for Wood Mackenzie, about overcapacity, declining panel prices and expected PV demand for the next years. She revealed that Chinese module procurement schemes are currently seeing unprecedented, “ridiculously” low bids, but she also noted that the $0.08/W threshold may now be difficult to exceed. Hryshko also expects many manufacturers to backpedal on previously announced capacity expansion plans and renegotiate module supply contracts.

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have developed a new silver-free adhesive for shingled solar cells. The novel adhesive is based the PEDOT:PSS polymer and can reportedly reduce silver consumption to approximately 6.3 mg/W.

In May 2024, high-efficiency panels, predominantly glass-glass modules equipped with tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) cells began to converge on price with mainstream offerings, writes Martin Schachinger, of pvXchange. Production volumes for these negatively-doped, “n-type” cells and modules have been ramped up in China while the increasingly restrictive customs situation in the United States may already be having an impact. For the European market, ever-lower prices for the latest module technology would suggest that demand would continue to rise were it not for a number of disruptive factors.