The International Solar Energy Research Center Konstanz e.V. (ISC Konstanz) has qualified Aurora Solar’s inline measurement and control technology for its BiSoN bifacial solar cell technology, which is licensed to PV manufacturers.
PV Tech reached its own little milestone of having reported and analysed the R&D spending habits of the same 12 key PV module manufacturers for 10 years. The results have just been published in sister technical journal Photovoltaics International as part of the annual leaders and laggards of R&D spending for 2016.
China-based PV module manufacturer Sunport Power has officially started production at 1GW assembly plant using Eurotron’s MWT equipment for back-contact PV modules that reduce cell-to-module losses and boost module performance and reliability.
US-headquartered Hybrid Cell Technology (HCT) module producer Sunpreme has signed a Master Supply Agreement (MSA) with True Green Capital Management for Commercial & Industrial (C&I) PV Projects in the US, totalling 150MW, over a three year term.
Major metallization paste producer Heraeus Photovoltaics said it had signed a major strategic partnership agreement with ‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) leader JinkoSolar that will focus on what the company said would be the development of a new generation of “Super PV Cells” with higher efficiencies and lower costs.
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member LONGi Green Energy Technology and the leading fully-integrated high-efficiency monocrystalline module manufacturer, reported first half 2017 revenue slightly down from the prior year period as a result of average selling price (ASP) declines, partially offset by product shipment growth.
The PERC (Passivated Emitter Rear Cell) cell and module technology have been widely adopted by the industry. JA Solar has been exploring innovative approaches of bifacial PERC cell and the methods of making it and has been granted two Chinese patents. Also, a series of experiments have been carried out to certify the higher efficiency of bifacial PERC modules than conventional PERC modules.
German-based PV module manufacturer Heckert Solar GmbH said that it had been one of the pioneers using Fraunhofer ISE’s new software that helps reduce cell-to-module losses that have led to module performance gains.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM), and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have reported dual-junction and triple-junction cell efficiency gains.
As PV Tech recently reported, significantly higher than expected solar PV installations in China is driving global installation forecasts to be revised upwards.
