Solar Manufacturing News

Inline solar cell measurement equipment specialist Aurora Solar Technologies (AST) has won a major repeat order from two top-tier China-based manufacturers of high-efficiency PERC (Passivated Emitter Solar Cell) solar cells.

PV wet processing specialist, RENA Technologies has received equipment orders from three leading PERC (Passivated Emitter Rear Cell) solar cell manufacturers in Asia, totalling 10GW in the last three months.

The fact solar manufacturers in China are still aggressively expanding output illustrates the strength of global demand for PV even as hopes for a rebound in Chinese installations appear to have been groundless.

Thin-film solar panel manufacturer First Solar today announced the start of production at its new PV module manufacturing facility in Lake Township, Ohio — a few miles from its flagship 600-MW factory in Perrysburg, Ohio. With the completed addition, First Solar has a total annualized production capacity of 1.9 GW in the United States. The company also manufactures panels in Malaysia and Vietnam.

The Swiss solar equipment maker has already sold its corporate headquarters this week as it aims to generate a fighting fund until the hoped-for returns of a European PV manufacturing renaissance materialize.

The world’s solar superpower added only 16 GW of new generation capacity up to the end of last month, according to the head of the main industry association. Short of a ten-week miracle, the annual capacity figure seems set for a second consecutive steep annual decline.

The manufacturing facility, idled a few years ago, will produce bifacial modules. The company claims panel efficiency exceeds 20.5% and the factory has an annual production capacity of around 200 MW.

At the recent Solar Power International trade show in Salt Lake City, Utah, part of the larger North America Smart Energy Week, pv magazine met with Hank Wang, President of the Americas Region at the Chinese inverter manufacturer Sungrow. The company expects to ship 2 GW of products to North American markets this year with utility-scale products making up the bulk of these shipments.

The Colombian government has revealed more details of the renewable energy procurement exercise finalized on Monday. Chinese manufacturer Trina was the bidder behind all three successful solar projects in the auction.

A study has estimated the cost of PV project soiling may increase from €3-5 billion last year to €4-7 billion by 2023 due to more extensive deployment in high insolation and soiling-affected regions, such as China and India. The authors of the paper outlined the potential of soiling mitigation technologies while stressing more R&D is needed to reduce costs and for the adoption of such measures on a larger scale.

‘Solar Module Super League’ (SMSL) member, First Solar said it was sold out of thin-film cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar modules through the second half of 2021 as the company continues to ramp its Series 6 larger-area modules.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) has witnessed the installation of what is being billed as its leading distributed solar project to date, scattered across dozens of locations.

DE Shaw Renewable Investments has purchased two neighbouring PV projects in Utah contracted to provide power to Facebook from developer First Solar.

Tesla reported a bounce back in solar installations in the third quarter of 2019, while energy storage installs reached a new record high. The company is also launching a third-generation residential roof system ahead of a volume production ramp.

China-headquartered GCL-SI was among the module makers recognised at this year’s PV ModuleTech, arranged in Malaysia by PV Tech’s publisher Solar Media.