TOPCon

Bengaluru-based Emmvee Photovoltaic has a 1.25 GW module manufacturing facility that can produce polycrystalline and mono PERC solar panels, with the ability to upgrade to TOPCon. By the end of 2023, it will raise its module capacity to 3 GW by adding new units, including 1.5 GW of wafer-to-module capacity. Suhas Donthi, director-sales and operations, spoke to pv magazine about current demand for Indian manufacturers and what’s in store.

Websol’s board members have approved a proposal to set up a new solar cell and module factory to produce high-efficiency mono-PERC and TopCon products.  

The result was confirmed by the National Institute of Metrology of China. It was achieved with a cell size of 210x210mm.

Scientists in Germany have developed two kinds of solar cells based on n-type doped electron-collecting poly-Si on oxide (POLO) junctions with aluminum-alloyed p+ contacts. Both devices are claimed to be possible upgrades of PERC technologies. The best-performant cell is an IBC device showing a power conversion efficiency of 23.71%, an open-circuit voltage of 711.5mV, a short-circuit current of 41.3mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 80.9%.

The potential advantages of n-type technologies have long been known to solar manufacturers, and such applications have been the focus of much of their research and development activities. Recent developments see 2022 shaping up as the year when n-type goes into mass production, led by tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) cells. pv magazine takes a closer at this cell technology and its route to the mainstream.

The past 12 months have been a turbulent time for PV manufacturing. Rapid and impressive developments in technology have been accompanied by price increases up and down the supply chain, and energy shortages weighed on production in the second half of the year. Chinese n-type module manufacturer Jolywood is now pressing ahead with ambitious expansion plans despite the disruption. pv magazine publisher Eckhart K. Gouras and editor Mark Hutchins recently caught up with Cathy Huang, European sales director at Jolywood, to discuss the company’s plans to bring n-type TOPCon technology into mainstream production.

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.

HJT technology could fill an innovation gap in the residential and commercial rooftop PV market, and boost U.S. solar leadership through domestic manufacturing of cells and modules.

Should heterojunction solar technologies be temporarily shelved? Could copper plating replace screen-printed silver conductive surfaces in cells? Why are tandem cells a likely successor to PERC? Brett Hallam recently sat down with Natalie Filatoff in Sydney to explain the findings of a new study by UNSW that sought to answer these controversial questions.

IHS Markit predicts that global installed solar PV capacity will grow by 20% to over 200 GW in 2022, despite a difficult cost environment. PV system costs are expected to resume their downward trend from 2023, when more polysilicon capacities will come into operation.