Solar yieldco model ‘flawed from the beginning’, says US bank executive

For years California, Texas and Florida have dominated the US solar market, but backed by the investment tax credit, strong state-specific renewables standards and falling costs, new states are coming to the fore. Molly Lempriere takes a look at what is driving them, and the hurdles they face if they are to challenge the ‘Big Three’.

As several large investors exit Australia, Alice Grundy takes a look at how transmission infrastructure and future policies are denting investor confidence while initiatives like the Renewable Energy Zones are creating new potential.

Reforms in energy policy since the election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador have led to increased uncertainty for solar developers in Mexico, with renewables auctions cancelled and changes to power dispatch priorities proposed. Alice Grundy looks at how the market can move forward once again.

The holy grail of every solar cell producer is the creation of a lowcost interdigitated back-contact (IBC) solar cell with an efficiency greater than 25%, a goal that can be found in almost every roadmap presentation. In this paper it will be shown that we are not far away from achieving this target, since IBC devices, with different process complexities, are already in production at several companies.

This paper will accordingly outline the recent activities at CEA-INES concerning the development and understanding of the integration of such shingle cells.

In this paper, an even greater reduction in wafer thickness, down to 130μm, is evaluated, and the critical steps in terms of breakage rates in cell and module production processes are reviewed. Finally, the mechanical stability and reliability of these thin HJT cells in glass–backsheet and glass–glass module types are addressed.