Category Archives: Cells & Modules

Solar panel dispute: EU reaches deal with China

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

The deal to resolve the biggest trade dispute between China and the European Union will avoid punitive tariffs from August on Chinese solar imports into Europe that were worth 21 billion euros ($27 billion) last year. BRUSSELS: The European Commission said on … Continue reading →

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China imposes anti-dumping duties on US, South Korean polysilicon

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

U.S. and South Korean polysilicon manufacturers will face anti-dumping import tariffs in China of up to 57% beginning July 24. U.S. producers REC and Hemlock face the highest rates. China’s Ministry of Commerce is set to impose import duties of … Continue reading →

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Chinese module prices continue to rise

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

Chinese panels are increasing in price due to the EU’s anti-dumping tariffs. As a result, high-quality modules from South Korean and Western suppliers are becoming more competitive, says IHS. The European Union’s anti-dumping tariffs are driving up prices for Chinese … Continue reading →

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REC turns profitable as PV module plant at full capacity

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

REC reported second quarter 2013 revenue of NOK 1,544 million (US$ 257.3 million), a 21% increase over the prior quarter. The company posted a positive EBITDA of NOK 152 million (US$25.3 million) in the quarter, marking a return to an … Continue reading →

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India May Expand Solar Dumping Probe to EU, Japan Cells – All parties must submit written statements by July 25, and defendants have until Aug. 2 to respond

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

Indian clean-energy companies that claim manufacturers in the U.S. and China dumped solar cells below cost on the market are seeking to extend their case to include imports from Europe and Japan. Indosolar Ltd. (ISLR), Jupiter Solar Power Ltd. and … Continue reading →

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Thin film CdTe PV breakthrough may cut solar costs by one third to lower than 40 $ cents

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

A new Silicon Valley developer of thin film solar PV modules, backed by an Australian venture capitalist, has claimed an engineering breakthrough that could cut the manufacturing costs of PV modules by one third. RSI has broken cover after five … Continue reading →

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R&D spending analysis of top PV module manufacturers in 2012

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

R&D expenditure by major PV module manufacturers has not been immune from the PV industry’s period of profitless prosperity. However, spending in 2012 has not been as affected as many would have expected with a number of companies increasing their … Continue reading →

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Date set for start of India’s solar anti-dumping investigation

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

The Indian government has announced a date for a preliminary hearing for its investigation into anti-dumping allegations against PV module manufacturers in China, Taiwan, USA and Malaysia. The investigation was announced last year following a petition by the Solar Manufacturers Association, representing … Continue reading →

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European Commission reveals August duty rates on Chinese solar companies upto 67.9%

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

The European Commission has published in its Official Journal details of duties levied on Chinese manufacturers with Delsolar hit the hardest. Yingli fared best with a duty rate of 37.3% as well as Jinzhou Yangguang Energy 38.3%. Delsolar was handed … Continue reading →

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Are Super-Thin Solar Cells The Future? New Solar Cells Developed That Are Pound For Pound Up To 1000 Times More Powerful Than Conventional Photovoltaics

Posted on June 29, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

The general drive in the solar energy technology industry has been towards the development of higher solar cell efficiencies and lowered manufacturing costs, but are there other avenues of improvement worth exploring? Such as the development of ultra-thin, ultra-lightweight solar … Continue reading →

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NREL lastest Cell Efficiencies right upto 44%

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan
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European Commission to impose 11.8% duties on Chinese manufacturers with an increase to 68% in August

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

In a press conference, European trade commissioner, Karel de Gucht, said duties would be phased in to allow for a negotiated solution. The European Commission has announced preliminary duties of 11.8% will be applied to Chinese solar manufacturers’ modules and … Continue reading →

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The Rising Sun Grid parity gets closer – A point of view on the Solar Energy sector in India by KPMG

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

Click Here for the Report The Solar PV industry has seen dynamic changes in the last twelve months. Module prices have seen precipitous fall thereby encouraging forecasts of early grid parity; while at the same time, this has raised concerns … Continue reading →

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EU imposes provisional anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese solar panels even after most European states voted against it

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

The European Commission has today issued the following statement: “Today the European Commission has decided to impose provisional anti-dumping duties on imports of solar panels, cells and wafers from China. This decision follows a thorough and serious investigation and extended contacts … Continue reading →

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EU votes against module Anti Dumping, and hopefully so will India

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

Eighteen EU member states vote against solar duties Countries who voted in support of the proposals include some of Europe’s largest solar players, most notably France, Italy and Spain. Image: Lightsource industry reaction to EU council vote on anti-dumping (04:20) … Continue reading →

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Domestic Content Requirement restricted to 300MW including Thin-film – India to Close Solar Import Loophole in Energy Auction

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

India plans to close a loophole before its next solar-power auction to stop companies from importing thin-film panels from overseas suppliers like First Solar Inc. (FSLR) for projects that otherwise must be built with local equipment. The government will invite developers by the … Continue reading →

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Solar power producers oppose any anti-dumping duty on imported gears

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

(In the last batch of the projects…) Ten solar power producers, including Jackson Ltd, Vikram Solar, Symphony Vyapar Pvt Ltd and Lexicon Vanijya Pvt Ltd have written to the ministry of new and renewable energy ( MNRE) saying imposition of … Continue reading →

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Engineering the Solar Age – Suppliers for Photovoltaics

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

Read the complete report here Photovoltaics, an application of electronic and semiconductor technologies, long since became an independent high-tech industry. This brochure presents the most important applications, backgrounds, technologies, and, most importantly, the key players in the fields of machine engineering, automation, raw and process materials, and … Continue reading →

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Solar shakeout: Banks pull LDK subsidiary Sunways’ credit facilities

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

Sunways said in a statement that the “current economic situation of the photovoltaics industry and of the company” led to its banks terminating all credit facilities and would exercise rights to unspecified collateral provided by the company that had initially … Continue reading →

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Sharp adds 0.2% efficiency to record triple-junction InGaAs solar cell

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

The latest efficiency improvement was due to further indium, gallium, and arsenide material combination optimization that improved light absorption across the various wavelengths. Further tweaks of its triple-junction InGaAs InGaAs (indium gallium arsenide) solar cell have led to Sharp reporting … Continue reading →

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Inviting comments on Draft Guidelines for setting up of 750 MW Grid Solar PV power projects with Viability Gap Funding (VGF) under Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), Phase-II, Batch-I

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

No. 29/5/2012-13/JNNSNM Government of India Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Solar Power Division Subject:  Invitation for Comments on  Draft Guidelines for setting up of 750 MW Grid Solar PV power projects with Viability Gap Funding (VGF) under Jawaharlal Nehru … Continue reading →

Posted in Cells & Modules, Crystalline, JNNSM, MNRE, Phase II, PV, Renewables, Solar, Solar Policy, Thin Film | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Current Solar Module Efficiency Nowhere Near Its Potential, Especially Thin-Film Solar & CPV (Chart)

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Director Dan Arvizu recently gave a keynote speech during the 2013 International Renewable Energy Conference (part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week), which I was lucky enough to attend*. His speech covered a large variety of cleantech topics, and most of … Continue reading →

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NREL verifies First Solar’s 16.1% total area module efficiency record leap

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

  Easily surpassing its previous record of 14.4% efficiency, First Solar a pushed the bar to 16.1%. Importantly, the CdTe thin-film leader also set a record for open circuit voltage (VOC), reaching an NREL verified 903.2 millivolts (mV). First Solar … Continue reading →

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Spectrolab breaks world record with 37.8% cell efficiency

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

Spectrolab, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company, is a manufacturer of high-efficiency multi-junction space solar cells and panels. Image: Boeing Manufacturer of space solar cells and panels Spectrolab has announced a 37.8% efficiency rate for its multi-junction solar … Continue reading →

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Rajasthan has a total of 512.75 MW installed as off March 2013

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

While a vast majority of Solar projects are JNNSM, REC based projects are picking up. Below are the names of the 84 odd organizations who have installed Solar Power Plants in Rajasthan with their capacities, technology and commissioning date upto … Continue reading →

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First Solar to manufacture copper-based crystalline silicon solar cells

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

TetraSun’s cell concept is based on what the company has termed “a novel surface passivation technology”. It enables the use of 40um wide copper electrodes instead of screen-printed silver metallization. Without demanding special equipment for the manufacturing process, cell Voc … Continue reading →

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IEA: Global solar capacity nearing 100GW milestone

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

Image: St Gobain Despite the uncertainties plaguing the European and Chinese markets in particular, a new report has revealed that 28.4GW of solar PV capacity was installed in 2012, bringing total global capacity to 89.5GW in the 23 countries in … Continue reading →

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Citigroup: How solar module prices could fall to 25c/Wp

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

Energy analysts at global investment bank Citigroup suggest that the cost of solar PV modules could fall beyond most expectations in coming years – and reach a cost of just 25c a watt by 2020. The prediction is included in … Continue reading →

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What next after the polysilicon apocalypse of 2012? – An analysis on why module prices are hardening

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Ritesh Pothan

Polysilicon prices plummeted last year, but signs of recovery are emerging. A year ago in the inaugural edition of PV-Tech’s sister digital publication, Solar Business Focus, we provided a detailed update on the PV polysilicon industry and the impact overcapacity was … Continue reading →

Posted in Cells & Modules, CPV, Crystalline, PV, Renewables, Solar, Thin Film | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment