Hanwha Q Cells opens the largest solar factory in the Western Hemisphere
The 300,000 square foot factory in Dalton, Georgia has the capacity to produce 12,000 PV modules per day, or 1.7 GW annually – the same peak generating capacity as the Hoover Dam.
First Solar exits the EPC business
Citing the wild success of its Series 6 module, First Solar has announced that it is closing its engineering, procurement and construction business in the United States in order to concentrate on scaling, developing, and selling modules.
Hardware: Q Cell and Solaria all black, Sunfolding’s summer body, NY sheep services, more!
Hardware, get your fresh hardware! SunPower is releasing energy storage, solar module pricing looks flat, and make sure to shake pv magazine hands as we walk the floor at Solar Power International in Salt Lake City next week!
The blackest black for more efficient solar cells
MIT scientists claim to have created a material 10 times more black than anything witnessed to date. It is said to be able to absorb more than 99.96% of incoming light and reflect 10 times less light than other superblack materials. The invention may be interesting for the development of black silicon PV technology and carbon nanotube-based solar cells.
Hardware brief: Sonnen gets smarter, tariffs biting harder, Vikram Solar’s new modules, more!
Only a couple of weeks until Solar Power International when we get to see the hardware in person – but for now, you get us! Kern Solar Structures galvanizes their steel well, a delta between 275 and 310 watt modules, and Solis is launching a utility scale inverter in the USA.
New technologies, new challenges: An interview with Jenya Meydbray of PVEL
In this interview, pv magazine talks with PV Evolution Labs CEO Jenya Meydbray about the new designs including heterojunction that will allow the solar industry to reach higher efficiencies, and the challenges entailed therein.
Hardware brief: Tesla solar patents, RBI’s “Underground Surety”, solar+storage+SCADA, more!
Hey, when you see me at SPI in Salt Lake City – make sure to show me things to take a picture of so I can get it into the brief! Otherwise, enjoy your weekend and some gear: small scale solar from Morningstar’s SureSine, module pricing trending downward, more!
Yotta gotta lotta $$, module pricing down, insurance for C&I, SMA’s 4.6 MW inverter, more!
As SPI approaches and hardware announcements speed up – we’ll work to keep you up! NREL speeds up ultra-efficiency solar cell manufacturing, SolaRack has a new rooftop attachment seal technique – and it uses 18% less product , APA Solar Racking’s Titan system doing well this year, more!
No climate debate at the DNC, NREL/First Solar improve thin-film cells: pvMB 8/23/19
Happy Friday one and all and welcome to today’s pvMB. Today we’ve got the Detroit Zoo going renewable, LONGi achieves AA bankability and community solar coming to Maryland. Let’s ride!
LONGi shingled module, Soltec bifacial simulations, Campbell Scientific solar albedo, more!
Hardware! Hardware! Get your fresh hardware! Terrasmart’s new *fixed* racking takes into account bifacial solar panels, Quickmount releases 5 to 10 degree commercial rooftop racking system, “Lead Crystal” batteries with 18-20 year lifetimes, more!
