2024

China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) says the country installed 102.48 GW of new solar capacity in the first half of 2024, bringing its total installed solar capacity to approximately 710 GW.

Trina Solar says it has started evaluating potential violations of some of its patents for tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) tech. One of the patents focuses on the number of busbars and their width in TOPCon solar panels.

Agri-food tech specialist N2OFF says it has entered the PV business by lending €375,000 ($407,000) to Israeli PV developer Solterra Renewable Energy. The loan is part of a larger €500,000 agreement, with the remaining €125,000 to come from other parties.

The new venture is expected to bring 2 GW of solar module manufacturing capacity to the US market within 18 to 24 months.

Mecosun says it has introduced a new solar carport in three formats, using low-carbon concrete and an embedded module mounting solution.

Martin Schachinger, the founder of pvXchange.com, explains how German solar installers are navigating the current slide in PV module prices – now as low as €0.08($0.09)/kW. He says that solar leasing could offer new opportunities, particularly in the nation’s commercial and industrial (C&I) sector.

Australian software developer PV Lighthouse has secured almost AUD 1.97 million ($1.32 million) to drive development of its SunSolve Yield advanced simulation engine, which is designed to improve yield forecasting for utility-scale solar projects.

The German authorities have reviewed 363 MW of bids to select 2559 MW of projects in the nation’s latest rooftop PV tender. The final prices ranged from €0.0795 ($0.0864)/kWh to €0.1019/kWh.

EneCoat Technologies, a Japanese solar perovskite developer, has raised JPY 5.5 billion ($35 million) from new and existing investors to finance new collaborations based on its low-temperature production process.

Ohmium has started operating a second electrolyzer gigafactory in India. The 2 GW facility near Bengaluru is expandable to 4 GW. It will produce polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzers to meet rising demand for green hydrogen.