Manufacturing

Solar panel producer Maxeon Solar Technologies will lay off 750 employees by the end of the year as the company reels from reduced shipments from its largest distributed generation (DG) customer in North America and an ‘industry-wide demand slowdown’ in global DG markets.

Also on the rise: Swedish battery manufacturer to open factory in Canada. Growth of solar, wind cuts emissions in global electricity sector. And more.

Northvolt Six will use a circular economy approach in its 60 GW/h of annual cell manufacturing in Quebec, assembling batteries for the U.S. automotive market.

Since the pandemic began in 2021, module prices have continued to fall, hitting a two-year low globally in April 2023. In the first two months of 2023, average U.S. module prices were $0.36 per Wdc, down 11% quarter-over-quarter.

Details of the settlement are confidential; however, Toledo Solar announced a new investor-led Independent board of directors and leadership team.

One year after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, federal policies help turn the page toward an economy powered by emissions-free technology and domestic manufacturing.

The rise of cost-effective TOPCon cell technology last year led to a ‘surge’ in production demand for solar n-type cell technology, with leading industry analysts TrendForce prophesying PERC cell capacities ‘may’ be phased out in two to three years.

Also on the rise: Not all ‘lithium-ion’ batteries are dangerous. Solar industry should focus on virtual power plants, says DOE’s Jigar Shah. And more.

Also on the rise: Honeywell invests in ESS to advance adoption of iron flow battery energy storage. Panasonic introduces half-cut HJT residential solar module, and more.

Honeywell purchased $27.5 million in ESS common stock and intends to purchase $300 million in ESS product, with $15 million prepaid. The collaboration enables Honeywell to integrate ESS technology into its global offering, and ESS gains license to Honeywell’s flow battery intellectual property.