Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

A 3 MW LG powered solar panel installation on the rooftop of Moorebank Logistics Park in Sydney is one of the largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, and indeed the world.

Q Cells has announced a 25-year product warranty on its upcoming modules to be released in Australia before the end of the year. The 25-year extended warranty is a massive show of confidence by one of the world’s largest module manufacturer’s in its products.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union is recommending an overhaul of policies to promote manufacturing in regional Australia along with a major push to create new jobs in a range of industries, including lithium batteries, green hydrogen and renewables.

The global expansion of PV, wind power and other clean energies will see double-digit growth this year as solar continues to lead the pack.

Research has found even short-lived, 10 to 15-year solar panels could provide enough return for bankable projects. The researchers believe panel costs, coupled with an industry mindset now fixed on the final solar energy price rather than costs per kilowatt installed, may open opportunities for PV products currently snubbed because of a short lifecycle.

MIT scientists claim to have created a material 10 times more black than anything witnessed to date. It is said to be able to absorb more than 99.96% of incoming light and reflect 10 times less light than other superblack materials. The invention may be interesting for the development of black silicon PV technology and carbon nanotube-based solar cells.

Western Australia-based solar glass developer ClearVue has announced it is now able to produce larger floor-height sized power-generating insulated glass units and window panels. The company hopes this will open new sales opportunities.

Polysilicon manufacturer Daqo has announced the start of pilot production in Xinjiang and expects to ramp up to full output by the end of the year, doubling the company’s annual capacity to 70,000 MT. Some 90% of its poly will be mono by that stage and Daqo expects 40% to be suitable for n-type products next year.

After celebrating Sunovate’s first demo project, pv magazine Australia sat down with Co-Founder and Managing Director Cesira Leigh to talk all things Sunovate, how the rising Aussie solar PV innovator came to be, and where it’s going.

The latest development on the module front sees manufacturers adopting larger wafer sizes in order to reach the industry’s raised expectations for power output. Older “M2” wafers have been the standard in recent years but now appear to be on the way out. Several theories about optimal size are gaining ground, but the future direction of the standard is still far from clear.