Manufacturing

Researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) predict that growth to 60TW of photovoltaics needed to rapidly reduce emissions to ‘net zero’ and limit global warming to <2 °C could require up to 486 Mt of aluminium by 2050. A key concern for this large aluminium demand is its large global warming potential.

SMA’s new hybrid inverter reaches a maximum efficiency of 98.2% and a maximum European efficiency of 97.5%. It is compatible with DC-coupled high-voltage lithium-ion batteries from leading suppliers, according to the manufacturer.

The Indian solar manufacturer has expanded the overall encapsulant capacity to 3 GW with the addition of a new line at its Bengaluru facility. The latest addition is capable of ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) and polyolefin elastomer (POE) sheets. The manufacturer is looking to further expand its encapsulant capacity to 11 GW.

Exide Leclanche Energy Private Limited, the joint venture with Swiss energy storage specialist Leclanché, has a lithium battery pack and module assembly factory in Gujarat.

Ratings agency Crisil analysts estimate India will have 38-43GW of annual solar module manufacturing capacity by the end of March 2025. Production capacity will be driven by strong domestic demand, favorable government policy, raised module conversion efficiency, and price competitiveness, according to the ratings agency.

TOPCon solar cells are on their way to fully compete with PERC solar products, according to recent research from Germany’s Fraunhofer ISE. Efficiency gains for the TOPCon concept, however, are necessary to help it capture more market share, as production costs remain higher than those for PERC tech. A series of cost-driven strategies to make TOPCon modules advance were outlined in the study.

Bids are invited from Indian manufacturers to supply five-busbar mono-/multi-crystalline silicon solar cells rated for minimum of 4.62 watts. Bidding closes on January 27.

The USA-headquartered green hydrogen generator developer has entered into an R&D partnership with IIT Madras Research Park (IITMRP) to improve the performance and lower the cost of its polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzers.

A British-Indian research group has developed an active cooling technique that is claimed to improve a PV system’s yield by around 0.5%. The system could be used in residential solar arrays and the water heated by the PV modules may be fed into a solar water heating system.

The Indian manufacturer has unveiled Series 10 monocrystalline PERC solar modules featuring 144 half-cells based on M10 wafer. The modules are available in monofacial and bifacial versions with a maximum efficiency of 21.33% and 21.13%, respectively.