panasonic

Panasonic is transferring a 90% stake in its heterojunction (HIT) solar cell and module assembly plant in Malaysia to China-based PV manufacturer, GS-Solar as part of wider collaboration on HIT production expansion and R&D.

Tesla’s energy generation and storage business revenue declined further in the first quarter of 2019, with solar rooftop deployments hitting a new low of 47MW, a 36% quarter-on-quarter decline. In response, Tesla will be offering new customers in the US a US$99 upfront deposit before installing a solar system.

PV is increasingly becoming the cheapest energy source and therefore has become the energy source with the highest yearly capacity additions! Even in 2018, after some scepticism right after SNEC 2018, due to the announcement of the Chinese Government to stop supporting PV as intensively as in 2017, more than 100GW (109GW) have been installed worldwide (we actually bet a crate of beer on that!) and 125GW has been forecasted to be installed in 2019.

Just when it looked like the underlining trend for Tesla’s shift away from using third party mainstream solar panel suppliers was set in stone, as manufacturing partner Panasonic started ramping Gigafactory 2 production, the latest data for the third quarter of 2018, goes completely in a different direction.

Dual function residential roof tiles or shingles that incorporate solar PV (photovoltaic) cells into an integrated PV system for new build and retrofit homes have already received the ‘hype’ from Tesla’s Elon Musk but a new kid on the blog is set to go head to head with Tesla for this niche US market both from a manufacturing and installation perspective.

At Solar Power International 2018 in Anaheim, numerous PV module manufacturers are continuing to roll-out a wider range of panels that embrace new technologies such as bifacial and half-cut cells as well as increased performance from existing product offerings that include both monocrystalline and multicrystalline.

PV tracker firm Mecasolar has signed an agreement with Anchor Electricals, a Panasonic Group Company, to produce and distribute its products in India, and to supply them to Southeast Asia and Africa.

In the hotly contested Californian residential solar market, new data compiled by ROTH Capital Partners highlights, amongst many data points, that Tesla’s solar panel supply base and suppliers is undergoing a major transition and that it has been changing for several years.

As the solar industry has grown from a 50GW market to 100GW in just a few years, the desire to have differentiated production has increased, especially for companies entering the market or repositioning strategies.

Leading PV manufacturing equipment supplier Meyer Burger has secured an order for its ‘SmartWire Connection Technology’ (SWCT) from an international solar module manufacturer in Southeast Asia for use with heterojunction (HJ) solar cells.