panasonic

Leading PV manufacturing equipment supplier Meyer Burger has said that the pioneer of heterojunction solar cell technology, Panasonic has decided to fast-track the evaluation of its ‘SmartWire Connection Technology’ (SWCT) in an effort to boost its cell and module performance.

Major electronics firm Panasonic Corporation of North America is to offer an AC version of its heterojunction modules using the newly launched IQ 7X microinverter from Enphase Energy in the US.

From technology trends breaking out at scale, China’s mind-blowing deployment, a certain trade case in the US and of course, one or two notable bankruptcies, 2017 was never short of drama. But which stories drew your attention in 2017?

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.

According to brief reports citing Tesla’s CTO, Panasonic has started making its high-efficiency HIT (Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer) solar cells at Gigafactory 2 in RiverBend, Buffalo, New York State.

Independent Power Producer (IPP) and developer Coronal Energy has completed 120MW for the US Department of Defense.

Having just completed its first ‘Solar Roof’ tile system installations in the US, Tesla said in reporting second quarter 2017 financial results that production of the roofing tiles would not enter mass production at its Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo, New York until the end of 2017.

IPP and renewable energy solutions provider Coronal Energy, powered by Panasonic, and Dominion Energy announced this week that they are developing a new PV facility in Essex County, Virginia.

Tesla began taking orders for its solar roof tile products from Wednesday afternoon.

Leading South East Asian renewable energy firm Sunseap has received US$10.7 million (SGD$15 million) from the United Overseas Bank (UOB) for commercial solar projects in Singapore.