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Norwegian ingot and wafer manufacturer NorSun will supply Heliene, a Canadian solar PV manufacturer, with US-made silicon wafers for its annual requirements from 2026.

Scientists at the University of Oxford last week (9 August) revealed a breakthrough in solar PV technology via an ultra-thin material that can be applied to “almost any building” and deliver over 27% conversion efficiency.

LONGi has announced a commercial M6 size wafer-level silicon-perovskite tandem solar cell with 30.1% efficiency at Intersolar Europe 2024.

LONGi has developed a crystalline silicon heterojunction back-contact solar cell, which boasts a conversion efficiency of 27.09%.

Finlay Colville, head of market research at PV Tech, provides a detailed look at solar’s value chain, assesses the key motivators for supply chain scrutiny today and begs the question, just who makes what – and where – in today’s solar sector?

As polysilicon prices rise once again, Liam Stoker explores the potential for polysilicon facilities to start in new geographies, the issues surrounding equipment and a skilled workforce and what else is vital to more regionalised PV manufacturing.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE and M10 Industries have unveiled a new matrix shingle technology for connecting solar cells which is claimed to produce modules 2 – 6% more efficient than those using conventionally connected half-cut cells.

Finlay Colville, head of market research at PV Tech Research, explores how solar PV has become dependent on low-cost manufacturing, facilitating a dominance by China-based players, and how the industry could engage with current scrutiny of solar’s supply chain.

Solar wafer and cell manufacturers in China have hiked their prices once again this month after a jump in spot prices for polysilicon in the country, while earthquakes have also disrupted upstream production.

A consortium of solar module, cell and wafer manufacturers have proposed to standardise 210mm product sizes in a bid to achieve the “best possible scale” for the solar industry.