Market analyst IHS Markit has issued its first forecast for 2018 installations. It expects the global market to surpass the 100 GW mark for the first time ever, hitting 108 GW.

China National Building Materials (CNBM), the parent company of German module manufacturer Avancis, announced that the first modules have rolled out of its 300 MW CIGS factory in Anhui Province, China.

Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a tool to predict solar cell performance at any location worldwide. The tool utilizes a combination of global weather data gathered by satellite and cell performance data from two different locations.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced that it will award multiple Australian universities and research institutes with a total of $29.2 million to support early-stage research into new solar innovations.

PERC power: As PERC settles into its position as a mainstream technology, leading module manufacturers are searching for ways to push ever more watts out of their module, and eliminate lingering degradation issues. So far this has included ramping up production capacities for half-cell modules and developing innovative new connection strategies. pv magazine looks into the latest technologies leading to gains in power output and quality at module level.

This week, pv magazine attended the European Solar Technology Forum, where researchers unveiled new innovations from across the manufacturing spectrum, prompting plenty of discussion over how the future will look for solar in terms of the technology available and its applications. Bold claims of the potential for a further 20% cost reduction in manufacturing were made.

A group of researchers led by the University of California San Diego (UCSD) has utilized a novel technique to delve deep into hybrid perovskite materials without damaging. The team was able to observe ion migrations within material, which reduced its efficiency as a solar cell material.

A paper published by consultancy DNV GL forecasts major growth in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) applications within renewable energy, and outlines the risks and opportunities of such technologies.

A team of researchers led by the University of Virginia in the USA has discovered that rotating molecules within a solar are one of the key mechanisms behind the high levels of conversion efficiency seen in perovskite solar cells. The discovery could allow scientists to select and design new materials capable of even more efficient PV generation.

European research group Solliance has announced new conversion efficiencies of 13.5% (cell) and 12.2% (module) for its perovskite based PV technology. The group states that the records were achieved in a factory setting, using an industrially scalable roll to roll process.