Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Swift Coat has won a $1 million grant from the DOE to develop a solar glass coating that combines industry standard anti-reflective properties with photocatalytic titanium dioxide that breaks down organic materials on solar modules, potentially increasing energy generation by 3% over standard panels.

The Chinese government will extend duties on U.S. and South Korean polysilicon for another five years despite committing to buy $200 billion more U.S. goods and services over the next two years in return for America halving 15% tariffs applied to $120 billion worth of Chinese products.

Solar module efficiency records continue to fall. Longi claims a 22.38% efficiency world record for a PERC mono panel, while Jinko has achieved conversion efficiencies of 21.82% and 22.49% for its p-type PERC and n-type HOT bifacial panels, respectively.

Intersolar is in a few weeks, so get your hardware press release out to USA-Editors@pv-magazine.com. In the meantime, modules are holding under 20¢/W, and “large wafers” are coming in a year or three!

The winners of the 2019 pv magazine awards have been recognized in a ceremony alongside the World Future Energy Summit. The victors spoke of the importance of innovation in the industry.

The Japanese electronics giant has unveiled three monocrystalline half-cut cell modules said to provide 2% to 3% better performance than standard, full-cell panels. The claimed efficiency of the modules exceeds 19.5% and Sharp says power output ranges from 330 W to 395 W.

Insolvency proceedings have been underway for Solibro GmbH since late summer, and business operations have long been suspended. This week another Hanergy subsidiary, Solibro Hi-Tech, has also declared insolvency.

A team at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory has come up with a new process that would reduce the production cost of highly expensive – and highly efficient – gallium arsenide cells.

Please companies, get your services known, your gear covered – send press releases and datasheets to USA-Editors@pv-magazine.com. What’s on the docket today? Module pricing is going down, higher efficiency products more so – enough that you ought call you supplier, Quasar bidirectionally connects your home directly to the DC side of your cars energy storage and SolRates is refining their offerings.

Hello one and all to your usual Tuesday morning brief. Today we’ve got for you a CFO for SunPower spinoff, Maxeon, changes in the Canadian Solar Board and the sale of a solar project at a military base.