Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Between tariffs on everything under the sun, Elon Musk’s $40 million tweet and the boom in energy storage, it’s been one Hell of a year.

Alta Devices’ gallium arsenide solar research cells have been certified with a 29.1% efficiency, setting a new single junction solar cell efficiency record.

The Solar Energy Technologies Office is seeking feedback from solar professionals on what topics it ought research within solar photovoltaics, solar thermal, systems integration and soft cost reduction.

The PV maker projects 5.4 to 5.6 GW of solar module shipments next year, more than double its current projected 2018 volumes of 2.6 to 2.7 GW.

NREL has proposed a new methodology for determining solar module degradation rates, taking into account measurement challenges such as sensor drift, inverter nuances, soiling and others – keeping the focus on the solar modules themselves.

Founder and Chair Harmel Rayat is the source of the cash raise. The organic photovoltaic solar cell film technology has scaled from its original one quarter the size of a grain of rice to a one foot square glass pane.

The NASA InSight lander generated 4,588 watt-hours during sol 1, a new record for electricity generation on Mars.

The high efficiency PV maker has already brought in all the tools for making its shingled P-Series product in Oregon, aiming to begin ramping in January.

NovaSolix hopes to use carbon nanotubes to capture a broader portion of the sun’s electromagnetic spectrum, a process they hope will yield a 90% efficient solar cell at a tenth of the cost of modern solar modules.

University of Michigan team hopes to offer a 15% efficient solar window product, that allows 50% of the light through, and have received $1.3 million from the Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office to develop it further.