Hardware and Services Brief: 72-cell heterojunction, fuzz and buzz, Tesla making its own battery cells, more!
PV InfoLink sees some multi-silicon module pricing increases, Array Technologies’ new clip lets First Solar install a module every 11 seconds and DNV GL has launched a global solar production projection tool. Send your hardware and services to USA-Editors@pv-magazine.com
Chinese solar production juggernaut rumbles on
Three more PV manufacturers are announcing plans to invest in an expansion of production capacities — as the industry appears to make light of coronavirus fears.
‘Tesla and Panasonic are scrapping their partnership’ in solar cell production at the Buffalo factory
Elon Musk has spoken of the “exponential” ramp-up of its solar glass tile at the Buffalo factory. Panasonic’s tiles never made the cut for that product
Oil giant Total increases stake in solar efficiency leader SunPower
Total will be acquiring 676,000 shares worth about $31 million, according to SEC filings.
Hanwha officially exits polysilicon business
Hanwha Solutions has confirmed that it will shut down its polysilicon business over the course of the next year, only a week after saying that it was still evaluating its plans for the sector.
First Solar announces surprise Q4 loss, considers sale of its development business
“First Solar, at its core, is a technology and module manufacturing company,” said Mark Widmar, CEO of First Solar. “Given the significant evolution of developing utility-scale PV projects in the United States, we believe now is an appropriate time to evaluate our options with respect to our U.S. project development business line.”
The futurology of solar power: robots, hackers, 5G, cheaper modules, repowering, and really cheap electricity
Module efficiencies will continue to increase, while the price of an individual module will stay the same. Not only will this hardware produce more power, it’ll work far longer — with predictions of 30-year module warranties, roughly the projected lifetime of gas assets.
Hardware and Services Brief: Cold rated lithium ion, fencing, a creative installation in Miami, more!
S-5! working with a metal roofing company to install two unique products on one site, SMA has launched a containerized medium voltage transformer that ties directly to their big inverters, and – so far – module pricing is flat in China. Send your hardware and service announcements USA-Editors@pv-magazine.com
Takeaways from a strong Q4 for ‘the new SunPower’
A rare profitable quarter has anchored an even rarer profitable year for SunPower, as confidence in the decision to split off the company’s module manufacturing business into Maxeon Solar Technologies rises.
Government report says Trump’s solar tariff has accomplished little
The U.S. ITC has released a report highlighting changes in the domestic solar cell and module manufacturing industry, showing that while there has been an increase in domestic module manufacturing, the overall program’s success, relative to the $740 million in tariffs, has created little measurable benefit.
