Manufacturing

Two different devices designed by German manufacturer Bosswerk can feed up to 300 or 600 watts into the home network. The company offers a 12-year guarantee.

All eyes are drawn to China every year for SNEC, the world’s biggest solar PV expo, as it invariably features a large number of new products from the key Chinese manufacturers. Vincent Shaw was on the scene in Shanghai this year and took the opportunity to take the industry’s pulse.

Through various initiatives and schemes, the Indian government has created a conducive environment for industry stakeholders to expand domestic manufacturing. The industry should seize the opportunity to ramp up capacity and manufacture emerging technologies such as monocrystalline (mono-Si), bifacial and half-cut cells, micro-inverters, and tracking equipment, all of which promise further solar efficiency gains over the coming years.

Saudi scientists have tested several cooling technologies for solar panels and have found that active techniques work better than passive ones under harsh climatic conditions. The most effective one consists of a system based on four heat pipes immersed in a box of liquid, as liquid bulk, integrated with the back of the solar panel.

The PV module relies on Jinko’s TOPCon mono cell technology, for which a record efficiency of 25.25% was announced in late May. TÜV Rheinland has confirmed the result.

The research group led by Professor Martin Green has published Version 58 of the Solar cell efficiency tables. He spoke with pv magazine about the criteria with which these tables are compiled and the importance of result certification by independent third parties.

The Jaipur-headquartered company carries out smelting of lead ore, lead concentrate, lead battery scrap, and aluminum scrap to produce secondary lead metal and aluminum ingots. 

The idea behind introducing the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) was to have a quality benchmark for solar modules. However, in its current form, it is more of a non-tariff barrier for foreign manufacturers and limits solar developers in terms of the choice of module wattage and make.  

The result was confirmed by Germany’s TÜV Rheinland and TÜV Nord.

As PV waste is set to rise rapidly in the coming decades, India needs to invest in efficient recycling technologies and devise a clear-cut policy for the safe disposal of PV waste. Guidelines for stringent quality checks and validation for both imported and locally produced solar panels are also needed to avoid early-loss solar waste.