World

Feedback from stakeholders involved in Germany’s end-of-life PV modules treatment chain found more needs to be done around the transparency of PV module waste volume, the take-back and collection process and module recycling, as the country prepares for significantly larger volumes by the end of the decade.

Solar panel manufacturing in Australia has reached a new zenith with a commitment by two industry leaders to explore the possibilities of establishing a commercial-scale advanced solar panel manufacturing facility in the heart of New South Wales coal country.

JinkoSolar has broken ground on a 56 GW PV panel factory in China’s Shanxi province. It says the new facility will be vertically integrated and will be constructed in four 14 GW phases.

IEA PVPS Task 12 analyzes the environmental impact of passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) technology in PV installations in comparison to the monocrystalline silicon technology (AI-BSF) and the trend towards installing horizontal single-axis tracker systems as opposed to fixed tilt systems.

Scientists in the Middle East designed a flexible two-terminal organic/CIGS tandem solar cell for wearable applications. The device achieved an open-circuit voltage of 1.89 V, a short-circuit current density of 17.55 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 82.79%.

Energy storage is the new solar for an increasing number of Chinese PV manufacturers. However, China still requires enabling policies for storage to provide the end-market volumes needed to bolster the fortunes of manufacturers old and new.

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.

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) says developers installed 345.5 GW of solar throughout the world in 2023. China mainly drove the surge, accounting for nearly three-quarters of all new renewable energy, but IRENA says more equitable growth will be needed to hit 2030 deployment targets.

US-based Thornova said its new panel features a power conversion efficiency spanning from 22.4% to 23.2% and a temperature coefficient of -0.29% per C. The company is a subsidiary of China-based manufacturer Sunova Solar and is currently planning a cell and module factory at an unspecified location in the United States.

Researchers in Australia have compared the technical and financial performances of a hydrogen battery storage system and a lithium-ion battery when coupled with rooftop PV. They evaluated two commercially available systems – LAVO and Tesla Powerwall 2 – and found that the lithium-ion battery provides better financial profits, whereas the hydrogen battery offers more battery lifespan for long duration of energy storage.