Search Results for: recycling – Page 16

How silicon feedstock is packed into casting crucibles can have a big impact on the size and cost-efficiency of the resultant solar ingots. Til Bartel looks at some of the latest thinking around this essential stage in the PV manufacturing supply chain.

Recognising that the vast growth in solar deployment under the feed-in tariff (FiT) could lead to an accumulation of PV waste in landfills, Japan will soon begin implementing recycling rules for solar modules.

PV waste | Europe is leading the way in efforts to regulate the disposal and recycling of old or discarded PV modules. Sara Ver-Bruggen investigates the extent to which the industry is complying with the rules and whether PV markets in other parts of the world are likely to follow Europe’s lead.

Growing awareness of the advantages of using controlled quantities of impurities in solar silicon is closing the price gap between lower and higher purity feedstock, writes Til Bartel.

A shift from free-abrasive/steel wire sawing to fixed-abrasive diamond wire sawing is expected to take place in the PV cell manufacturing industry, with 2018 being the anticipated pivotal point for market dominance. This shift is due to several key advantages of diamond wire sawing, such as higher throughput, less wire per wafer, no slurry and the possibility of kerf recycling. However, in order for diamond wire sawing to realize its promise as the next-generation workhorse for the slicing of silicon PV wafers, inherent fundamental challenges must be properly identified and successfully addressed by the PV industry. As a first step to increasing the current collective understanding of the critical needs/challenges of diamond wire sawing, the c-Si programme of the U.S. PVMC held a workshop on July 8th, 2014 in San Francisco, California. One of the key products of this workshop was an extensive list of short- and long-term challenges. This article expands on some of the most important challenges identified at the workshop through the collective discussions and dialogue among a variety of PV industry experts and stakeholders.

Matthias Grossman analyses the prospects for a wave of expansions in the dynamic polysilicon market.

The Hungarian government has imposed an import tax on solar panels claiming the move is necessary on environmental grounds to cover disposal costs.

The new contracts for difference mechanism in the UK market is “an interesting opportunity for a more market orientated approach”, according to First Solar.

Silver is a key raw material in PV manufacturing. But as Chris Berry writes, a deficit in global silver supply and the prospect of future price increases are both sources of concern for the solar industry.

Reports are coming in from around the world: consensus is that people don't want to talk about climate change. With results ranging from amusing to flabbergasting, Wednesday's GENR discusses the 'green fatigue' issue.