Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Maxeon Solar Technologies has released an integrated home energy management system to engage with solar PV, batteries, heating, cooling, and appliances.

US$3.1 billion (AU$4.4 billion) is available to increase production of American-made batteries, with a separate US$60 million (AU$85 million) to support second-life applications for used EV batteries, along with development of processes for recycling materials back into the battery supply chain.

Portuguese startup Solarud has developed a way to eliminate soiling around the frames of PV panels with low inclination slopes. The device drains water that would otherwise stay stagnant on the surface of modules.

Fortescue Future Industries continues to advance its green energy ambitions, announcing it will provide new funding for Dutch solar PV module maker HyET Solar in a move designed to accelerate a planned expansion of the company’s manufacturing plant in The Netherlands.

Sharp’s new IEC 61215 and IEC 61730-certified-certified panel features 144 half-cells based on M10 wafers and a 10-busbar design. Its operating temperature coefficient is -0.349% per degree Celsius and its power tolerance reaches up to 5%.

Enray Solutions has developed an autonomous, water-free cleaning robot for ground-mount solar installations that draws its power from an on-board PV panel and battery. The robot is designed to withstand the harsh environmental conditions of all kinds of terrain.

Bearing witness during battery energy storage system manufacturing can reveal potential failure points and is crucial given the industry’s relative immaturity, argues Frédéric Dross, the vice-president of strategic development for quality assurance provider STS. And much can be learned from the early days of solar.

The latest update to the Solar Energy Industries Association’s (SEIA) survey for solar workers and companies shows drastic outcomes for the industry if tariffs are imposed on countries under investigation.

France’s environmental agency Ademe has released a set of new guidelines that clearly define “agrivoltaics.”

Solar might be more efficient than nuclear energy to supply power for a six-person extended mission to Mars that will involve a 480-day stay on the planet’s surface before returning to Earth, according to new US research.