Supply stability
The solar manufacturing industry has seen rapid change in 2022, with supply chain vulnerabilities exposed and multiple regions looking to establish their own domestic manufacturing presence. pv magazine caught up with Insan Boy, vice president of global sales at module maker Seraphim, to discuss the issues of transparency, sustainability and technology that are quickly coming into focus.
The scramble for lithium
Electric vehicle and stationary energy storage companies have experienced battery cell shortages this year. InfoLink predicts overcapacity in 2024, but the concentration of production in China means customers elsewhere are mulling deals with miners.
Indian ambition
PV manufacturing is expanding rapidly in India. The country will remain one of the world’s largest PV markets in the coming years, and it is keen to free itself from dependence on imported solar goods. But rapid scale-up, featuring new players and technologies, comes with risks and challenges that need to be carefully managed.
Final thoughts: Europe’s path to 40 GW
Gulnara Abdullina, Vice-President Europe, Longi Solar
Sustainable debt has shown its potential in 2021
Last year marked another milestone for sustainable debt, with more than $1.6 trillion issued. This brings the total market to over $4 trillion. Sustainable debt can directly finance green and social projects, as is the case for green and social bonds and loans. It can also push organizations to move their sustainability agendas forward by giving them preferential financing conditions if they meet certain sustainability metrics, as is the case for sustainability-linked bonds and loans. Maia Godemer, research associate at BloombergNEF, reports on the latest developments.
pv magazine test: Dec. 2021 and Jan. 2022 results
We are pleased to present the next batch of energy yield results from our outdoor test field in Xi’an, China. In this issue, we present data for December and January, as the pandemic lockdown delayed the publication of yield results for the final month of 2021, alongside analysis from George Touloupas, director of technology and quality at CEA.
Design for circularity
Lithuanian PV manufacturer SoliTek provides an update on its investigations into solar panel design for circularity. In addition to addressing recycling technologies, they assessed solutions for higher circularity, and qualitatively evaluated the impact of these solutions to select the most promising way forward.
Blocking the big winds
Several manufacturers now offer trackers fitted with blocking mechanisms to increase wind resistance and make trackers behave more like fixed structures. Some companies even retrofit such mechanisms to existing tracker projects. pv magazine Spain’s Pilar Sanchez Molina investigates the efficacy of blocking mechanisms and other strategies to deal with high wind loads.
Pipelines switch from p-type
A major change is underway, and it may spell the end of p-type PV technology, says Roberto Murgioni, JinkoSolar’s head of technical service and product management EU. Some may doubt n-type’s prospects for deployment in the near-term, but Murgioni reports that at present, the company can’t keep up with demand.
The return of global PV manufacturing
A successful initial public offering on the Istanbul stock exchange this year proved that a business model with an emphasis on solar cell and module manufacturing outside of China or Southeast Asia can find the backing of institutional investors. The landmark finance deal gives fresh shine to the ongoing discussions about the chances of re-establishing the crystalline silicon solar value chain in Europe.
