manufacturing

Perovskite photovoltaics have garnered significant attention, But is Perovskite really the next major solar technology? Maia Benstead, Technology Analyst at Oxford based IDTechEx, takes a stand.

A tsunami of cheap Chinese solar panels flooding Europe, an increasing taste for rooftop solar and a boom for small, medium and large-scale battery storage. These are the three strongest trends in solar energy for 2025, as seen by Midsummer Executive VP Sven Lindström.

The Solar Stewardship Initiative (SSI) has reached a milestone in its mission to create end-to-end transparency and promote responsible practices across the solar value chain with the publication of its Supply Chain Traceability Standard. It was unveiled last week at Sustainable Solar Europe Conference in Brussels.

Urban PV aims to give the energy transition in cities a boost. The focus is on the utilisation of already sealed surfaces in urban areas.

What is driving the dynamic battery storage market in Europe? What are the risks? How important is European manufacturing and a circular economy? Stefan Bahamonde, CEO and founder of Libattion, shares his point of view.

In the face of global price and competitive pressure in the PV sector, which is now also affecting large European inverter manufacturers such as SMA and Fronius, the industry association SolarPower Europe is calling for political countermeasures.

SolarPower Europe unveiled its landmark ‘Sustainable Solar: Environmental, Social, and Governance Actions Along the Value Chain’ report, detailing how the solar sector is addressing key sustainability challenges across all stages of its lifecycle.

Following the assignment, in late November 2024, of inverter manufacturer Fimers business complex to MA Solar Italy Limited affiliated to the McLaren Applied Group, the acquisition procedure has been formally completed as planned. Fimer has been officially integrated into the Greybull Capital and McLaren Applied family.

The Solar Stewardship Initiative (SSI) completed its first Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) assessments, with additional ones already ongoing. Two manufacturing sites of Trinasolar have been certified.

Enstall, provider of mounting solutions and digital services for the solar sector, recently announced that Stijn Vos will transition to Chairman of the Supervisory Board, with Mehran Sedigh appointed as the new CEO. The change will take effect in March 2025.

Jinko Solar has achieved the significant milestone of delivering 300 gigawatt (GW) of solar modules worldwide since 2011, the company having previously also been the first in the industry to reach milestones of 100 GW and 200 GW.

The Extraordinary Commissioners of Italian inverter manufacturer Fimer in Extraordinary Administration have announced that the Company’s business complex has been assigned to MA Solar Italy Limited, part of the McLaren Applied Group, with the support of Greybull Capital. The takeover price was not disclosed.

Array Technologies, a global supplier of solar tracker solutions, announces the appointment of Leonardo Serpa as general manager for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and Héctor Sánchez as vice president of sales, EMEA.

In view of the global price pressure and competition in the PV sector, which is now also causing major European inverter manufacturers such as SMA and Fronius to falter, SolarPower Europe is calling for political countermeasures.

Trinasolar has been awarded the bankability certificate for its Vertex n-type TOPCon bifacial PV modules by TÜV Rheinland, an independent third-party agency for testing, inspection and certification.

LONGi reported a net loss of 1.261 billion CNY (€170 million) in Q3 of this year. To return to profitability, the Chinese manufacturer is increasingly relying on high efficiency PV modules with back contact technology.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) published its annual Energy Technology Perspectives report, for the first time introducing combined analysis on the interplay between energy, industrial and trade policies. SolarPower Europe contributed to the report.

FuturaSun’s FENICE project, aimed at building a high-efficiency photovoltaic module plant in Italy, has passed the selection process by CINEA, securing a grant from the Innovation Fund—one of the European Commission’s key initiatives to drive technological innovation and the green transition.

The market for second-life solar modules is growing rapidly: in addition to use in smaller stand-alone systems and as balcony power plants, entire solar parks can also be equipped with used modules. After all, 70 per cent of old modules are immediately usable.

The European PV market showed renewed vigor in September, as the PV Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) saw a notable uptick to 71, up from 68 in August. This indicates a clear resurgence in demand despite ongoing price declines in the solar component market. Solar panel prices continued their downward trajectory across nearly all categories, with significant drops observed in both monofacial and bifacial segments.

With solar leading their rapid deployment, renewables are on course to meet almost half of global electricity demand by the end of this decade, a new report of the International Energy Agency (IEA) says.

Sodium-ion batteries have several advantages over conventional batteries. They contain no critical raw materials such as lithium or cobalt - and could make stationary energy storage and electromobility much more cost-effective. There is still a lack of the necessary energy storage materials for production.

LONGi has published its financial report for the first half of 2024. The integrated Chinese module manufacturer generated revenues of the equivalent of 5.03 billion euros in the period. One challenge, however, is the low PV manufacturing capacity utilization rate of less than 50 percent. Growth with the new HPBC 2.0 back-contact series is expected in 2025.

Peter Thiele, President Sharp Energy Solutions Europe, about historical milestones, the development of photovoltaic technology and future challenges and opportunities in the solar industry.

Storage systems for commercial and utility use are the hotspot of the energy transition. They have to be universal geniuses, to be safe and they have to be installed very easily. The latest trends we now learn from Franz-Josef Feilmeier, founder and CEO of Fenecon.