Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Solar Fabrik has introduced a 400 W red-brown glass-glass PV module designed to meet strict aesthetic requirements for historic and protected buildings, offering a 20.02% efficiency and compatibility with traditional tiled rooftops.

Building-integrated PV technology company ClearVue Technologies is a step closer to commercial deployment of its metal-backed solar panels after securing global IEC certification for the integrated rooftop system.

UNSW researchers developed a chemically selective, nitrate-based, single-sided accelerated ageing method for TOPCon solar cells that replicates the mildly acidic environment inside EVA-encapsulated modules. The proposed approach enables rapid, physically meaningful screening of front-side metallisation stability, reliably predicting module-level degradation and reducing development time and costs, according to its creators.

Tongwei is partnering with GS-Solar and Golden Solar to develop a large-scale manufacturing facility for hybrid heterojunction back-contact solar cells that combine HJT passivation, tunneling oxide and polysilicon structures used in TOPCon designs, and the grid-free front-side architecture typical of back-contact technologies.

Australian solar and thermal energy storage company RayGen says it has achieved a major international milestone with the commissioning of a 1 MW concentrated solar plant in Brazil.

The result was certified by China’s National Photovoltaic Industry Metrology Test Center. The cell utilises a perovskite top device with MBT-ligand-controlled crystallisation on a TOPCon silicon bottom cell, achieving a void-free, high-efficiency tandem structure.

While the world reels from interruption to crude oil supply chains, a new International Energy Agency report shows clean energy technology manufacturing supply chains are at risk, largely due to the world’s reliance on China’s advanced manufacturing and distribution expertise.

A Japanese consortium is piloting agrivoltaics using film-type perovskite solar cells over rice paddies to study energy generation alongside crop production. The three-year project will assess impacts on rice yield, land use, and emissions while testing the technology’s performance and commercial viability.

Researchers in the United Kingdom have developed a smart window that combines switchable polymer-dispersed liquid crystal with integrated PV cells, offering controllable transparency and electricity generation. The system balances light, heat, and solar protection while maintaining high visual quality and stable performance, according to its creators.

JinkoSolar has announced the launch of a new solar module tailored specifically to meet the power density and extreme reliability needs of data centres and AI-driven computing.