Thin-film manufacturer First Solar has confirmed that its fourth US factory will be opened in Lawrence County, Alabama. The factory has an expected manufacturing capacity of 3.5GWdc annually and will represent an investment of approximately US$1.1 billion.
The solar PV industry is forecast to produce 310GW of modules in 2022, representing an incredible 45% year-on-year increase compared to 2021, according to the latest research undertaken by the PV Tech market research team and outlined in the new PV Manufacturing & Technology Quarterly report.
JinkoSolar’s 182mm TOPCon N-type solar module has recorded a maximum solar conversion efficiency of 23.86%, topping the company’s previous record of 23.53% for an N-type module.
German technical services company TÜV Rheinland has introduced a new certification for building-integrated PV modules (BIPV), which it said is a globally unique testing standard.
The top four solar module manufacturers had shipments totalling more than 114GW during the first three quarters of 2022, as demand slowed in Europe but grew rapidly in China.
Maxeon Solar Technologies has improved its results from the previous quarter, with Q3 2022 revenue up, driven by the European distributed generation (DG) business.
Norway-based solar manufacturer REC Group has begun production of its new REC N-Peak 3 Black Series of rooftop solar panels, the third generation of its n-type TOPCon cell-based solar panels.
Solar module companies are more than willing to expand production this year, with new module project announcements from old and new players continuing to emerge.
Talesun, the Chinese-headquartered solar manufacturer, and South African company ARTSolar have commenced operations at a 325MW PV module manufacturing facility.
