Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Scientists in China took a closer look at the role of defects in limiting the performance of perovskite solar cells, demonstrating a screening effect that could be tuned to make material defects “invisible” to charge carriers, greatly improving cell performance. Using this approach they demonstrate a 22% efficient inverted perovskite solar cell, and theorise several new pathways to even higher performance.

New cell and module technologies are boosting power outputs, but they often have implications for quality. A focus purely on cell cracking illustrates just this point, with some approaches proving beneficial, and others potentially problematic – cue Tristan Erion-Lorico from PV Evolution Labs (PVEL).

The solar industry in Europe and the United States is continuing to ramp up the pressure on the use of polysilicon produced in Xinjiang, China – in response to allegations that forced labour is being used in its production. By contrast, the Australian industry’s response has been markedly muted. Although it is true that most global solar industries are heavily reliant on Chinese manufacturing, Australia is overwhelmingly so.


Researchers in Germany claim to have overcome the primary hurdle in the development of large-area perovskite PV modules – scaling up from the cell to the module level. They achieved an efficiency of up to 16.6% on a module surface of ​​more than 50 centimetres squared, and 18% on a module with an area of 4 centimetres squared.

The two new products will be part of the Hi-MO4m panel series for rooftop applications. Their efficiency ranges from 19.2% to 21.2%.

In efforts to improve PV performance by helping modules keep their cool, the Martin Green team is going for 10 degrees lower operating temperatures. Cherry-picking the most practical approaches could deliver 50% extended project life.

Not all quality control plans, processes and agreements are created equal, writes Frédéric Dross, the VP of strategic development for Senergy Technical Services (STS). Indeed, developers can find themselves saddled with agreements that allow unacceptably low levels of quality, unless they have followed standards.

Module-level power electronics, most often in the form of power optimisers and microinverters, offer a range of value propositions, including advanced monitoring capabilities. But how much can the little box behind the module really see, and how much do operators actually need to know to keep a power plant running optimally?

The Dutch consortium has achieved the record result by combining, in a four-terminal tandem configuration, an 18.6% efficient highly near-infrared transparent perovskite with a prototype of a c-Si interdigitated back contact (IBC) silicon heteroJunction (SHJ) cell developed by Japanese electronics manufacturer Panasonic. The perovskite cell was also combined with other kinds of solar cells and other remarkable record efficiencies were hit.

South Australian company Renascor Resources this morning confirmed it had raised $15 million from institutional investors in Australia and abroad, enough to fund its Siviour Battery Anode Material Project up to the construction phase. The project is on track to become the world’s first integrated mine and purified spherical graphite operation outside of China.