Concentrated solar power, a much cheaper solution than batteries for energy storage
By offering cheap energy storage, concentrating solar power has a huge potential. However, it requires international standards to become a competitive market proposition.
‘There is no such thing as a global patent’
Jeffrey Saltman, partner at U.S. intellectual property law firm Fisch Sigler LLP, recently spoke to pv magazine about the rising number of patent lawsuits between PV module manufacturers. He said this increase in litigation mainly stems from the industry’s convergence on tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) tech and noted that the number of lawsuits is likely to rise in the near future.
Utility-scale solar additions hit 46.8 GW since start of 2023, says Wiki-Solar
PV data consultancy Wiki-Solar says the world’s top solar developers have added nearly 50 GW of new solar capacity since early 2023, raising their cumulative capacity to 146.7 GW – more than one-fifth of the global total.
Wafer prices drop, inventory levels rebound despite operating rate cuts
In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.
Sunniest October on record for U.S. amid hurricane disruptions
In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that October delivered record-high irradiance across much of the United States, with a high-pressure system over the Eastern and Central regions driving a sustained period of warm, dry, and clear weather. Meanwhile, contrasting conditions in Canada’s coastal provinces and extreme weather in Florida underscored this month’s diverse impacts on North American solar generation.
Georgia facility to recycle 10 million solar panels per year
Unlike the single use of multi-million-year-old fossil fuels, solar panels can be recycled, recovering much of their materials for future use.
Tesla releases Powerwall 3 expansion units
Each expansion unit adds another 13.5 kWh of storage capacity to the original installation with a maximum of three such units connected to a single Powerwall. Now available in the US, the new product comes at a lower cost and slashes installation time by roughly half to 22 minutes.
Solar tracker manufacturer Nextracker reports 29% year-on-year growth
The U.S. manufacturer of sun-tracking solar mounts posted $1.35 billion in revenue for the first half of fiscal year 2025.
Solar module manufacturing capacity could exceed 1.5 TW by 2035, says IEA
The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) latest report, which maps out the future evolution of clean energy manufacturing, says the combined global market for PV, wind turbines, electric cars, batteries, electrolyzers, and heat pumps will rise from $700 billion in 2023 to more than $2 trillion by 2035.
First Solar misses on Q3 revenue, lowers 2025 guidance
The U.S. thin-film solar manufacturer posted revenues roughly 18% short of Wall Street consensus expectations.
