An oral hearing for India’s anti-dumping investigation was held on Tuesday, giving a chance for domestic and foreign manufacturers as well as module importers to air their cases.
As part of an initiative by the Australian government, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) awarded a total of AU$29.2 million for 20 research projects to propel the development of PV technology.
Meyer Burger Technology has announced that 100 staff will definitely be let go from its facility in Thun after a consultation procedure was completed on 28 November. However the security of another 60 positions will be dependant on whether strategic alternatives are found.
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member LONGi Solar, a subsidiary of LONGI Green Energy Technology, the largest monocrystalline wafer producer in the world has reported a record bifaciality reading of 82.15% for its ‘Hi-MO2’ mono PERC (Passivated Emitter Rear Cell) bifacial module.
Module technologies tipped to enter the mainstream and the suitability of current testing methods were scrutinised at PV ModuleTech 2017. PV Tech caught up with Mark Ma, global marketing manager, DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions, to discuss these new innovations and methods of sequential testing.
Laser micromachining specialist 3D-Micromac said it was supplying Hanwha Q CELLS solar cell plant in Qidong, Jiangsu-province, China with its microCELL OTF laser system for its recently announced transition from Al-BSF (Aluminium Back Surface Field) to PERC (Passivated Emitter Rear Cell) technology.
India has announced plans for an unprecedented solar procurement regime that aims to tender 20GW in 2017/18, followed by another 30GW in each of the two following years, but analysts have described the policy as "completely unrealistic".
The conflict of agricultural land use for solar power plants could be a thing of the past after a science driven agrophotovoltaics (APV) pilot project near Lake Constance in Germany, led by Fraunhofer ISE has proved the viability of dual land use.
The thin-film photovoltaics research initiative Solliance, which is focused on the commercialisation of perovskite thin-film technology, has fabricated small cells with industrially-applicable, roll-to-roll (R2R) production processes, setting a number of new conversion efficiency records.