Manufacturing

Use of the term “circular economy” is growing in virtually every industry worldwide – solar included. As noted throughout Q3, in the UP initiative’s focus on circular manufacturing, work is already underway to integrate circular principles into all areas of business, from internal operations and supply chain management to manufacturing and installations. In a recent analysis of PV recycling, BloombergNEF detailed six conclusions for the solar industry and those who are trying to make it more circular. Cecilia L’Ecluse, solar associate, and Julia Attwood, head of advanced materials at BloombergNEF share these conclusions as part of our quarterly theme on PV module recycling.

Manufacturers have until December 4 to bid for the supply of 286,000 multicrystalline silicon solar cells using five bus bars. The cells are required in the peak power rating of 4.62W (10,000 quantities), 4.67Wp (60,000) and 4.72Wp (216,000).

With an additional investment of INR 33.17 crore, Exide Industries’ shareholding in the joint venture company has increased by 2.28% to 80.15% of the paid-up equity share capital.

An underdeveloped charging ecosystem is one of the many factors restricting the uptake of electric four-wheelers in India. A limited number of products and higher costs than combustion-engine powered vehicles are the other deterrents.

A British-German research team claims that organic PV technologies may become mature enough to compete with crystalline silicon and thin-film products not only in BIPV, but also in power generation in the electricity market. In order to get there, however, organic PV products will have to achieve higher efficiencies.

The solar panel production line at Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University’s campus in Gujarat will demonstrate the process of cell-to-panel integration, lamination and EL testing.

Bifacial modules have brought significant opportunities to PV project developers, but they have also increased complexity in system design and the modeling of plant output. Australian software developers PV Lighthouse believe they have created a fix, by allowing the complexity to be handled by the use of cloud computing. PV Lighthouse CEO Keith McIntosh and CCO Ben Sudbury argue that their software can be useful for module makers, tracker suppliers, and PV project developers alike.

Avinash Hiranandani, global chief executive officer and managing director, RenewSys India, speaks to pv magazine about solar module technology trends and their company’s manufacturing focus.

According to its creator, Swedish start-up Evolar, the new technology can be applied to existing production lines for crystalline silicon modules and increase a product’s efficiency by around 5%.

An ambitious, INR146,000 crore, five-year expansion of a previous domestic industry spending program includes money to attract investment into the sustainable energy and transport technologies.