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All articles of topic solar modules

From IoT sensors to solar farms: the main markets IDTechEx sees for perovskite

Perovskite PV heads for surfaces silicon cannot reach

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Lightweight warehouse roofs, vehicles, noise barriers, greenhouses and indoor IoT devices could all become markets for perovskite solar. A new IDTechEx report looks at the decade ahead.

Leon Zhang (right) is President of LONGi Solar Europe

LONGi Solar: modules and storage from a single source

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CEO Talk: The utility business in Europe is growing and increasingly challenging. Solar fields now come with large batteries, and suppliers must meet standards for grid compliance, safety and security. How is the business changing and what strategy will ultimately succeed? Leon Zhang, President of LONGi Europe, shares his view.

Cells made in Europe: the signatories want wafers and polysilicon to follow

Europe’s solar sector urges EU to rebuild the PV value chain

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More than 75 module assemblers operate across the continent, against just one ingot-and-wafer project and one polysilicon producer. Now over 35 industry players want the Industrial Accelerator Act to fill the gaps.

Rooftop cast: staff of the Storyhouse in Chester alongside the modules that now play a supporting role

UK – Solar to take starring role at Royal & Derngate theatre

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The 232 panels planned for the Northampton venue’s roof should cover its yearly demand, but evening performances make it a textbook case for adding battery storage.

Dr Christian Peter is Managing Director of Aiko Energy Germany and Solarlab Aiko Europe

AIKO Energy: new benchmarks in module performance and efficiency

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PV Guided Tours: With 690 W and an efficiency of 25.6%, AIKO Energy once again sets new benchmarks with its fourth-generation modules. In the video, we explore the technical details and outline future developments.

The innovative modules come without glass

Peakup Power: stable lightweight modules for roofs with little to spare

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PV Guided Tours: Lightweight modules that offer a solution for load-restricted roofs. Or special technologies that enable durable and flexible solar modules without glass. Is this magic? Let’s find out.

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European validation strengthens the case for LONGi’s BC technology

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For utility-scale solar projects in the DACH region, module choice affects more than peak power: it shapes energy yield, land use and the investment case over the project’s lifetime. European research, testing and field assessments of LONGi’s Back Contact (BC) technology provide locally relevant evidence that developers and investors can consider in due diligence, alongside their own site-specific analysis.

Light gets in easily, and the trick is keeping it from getting out

Narrowing the angle – a simple fix for solar cell losses

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By restricting the directions in which organic solar cells emit light, researchers at ICFO have reduced Boltzmann losses, opening a possible route beyond the Shockley-Queisser limit.

Same rooftop, same TOPCon dominance, but the monofacial-bifacial choice behind it is anything but settled

Five questions to ask before selecting a module

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As TOPCon dominance gives way to a more differentiated market, Ignacio Espinosa of JA (formerly JA Solar) sets out what really separates one module from another.

Full Black edges past Back Contact as module prices ease in September

September PV Index: module prices ease as demand edges up

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All four module segments slipped in September 2026, with TOPCon bifacial at €0.114/W. sun.store’s purchasing managers’ index rose to 67 from 65, just below its historical average of 68.

Martin Green (left) has spent five decades advancing solar module technology.

Solar Investors Guide – Martin Green on glass-free modules

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Professor Martin Green of the University of New South Wales is a leading figure in solar research, holding numerous patents and efficiency records dating back to 1974. Now Chief Scientific Officer at Euronergy, he is focused on developing glass-free, lightweight modules that are exceptionally thin and easy to install.

Silicon has little headroom left, which puts more weight on manufacturing

LONGi breaks silicon efficiency record for the third time this year

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A hybrid back-contact design verified by Germany's Institute for Solar Energy Research Hamelin has pushed crystalline silicon efficiency to 28.29 percent, close to the technology's theoretical ceiling.

A CalLab researcher tests a solar module under a multispectral solar simulator

Germany – Fraunhofer ISE CalLab marks 40 years of solar records

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The Institute for Solar Energy Systems calibration laboratory has confirmed 152 world efficiency records since 1986, from a then-impressive 16.4 percent silicon module in 1992 to today's world-leading 34.4 percent record.

A round of thumbs up from the LONGi and Enexus executives to mark the signing of the BESS agreement

Romania – a landmark battery deal for LONGi and Enexus

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A new 50 MWh order from Bucharest-based Enexus ranks among the Chinese firm's largest battery deals in the country, adding a storage dimension to an existing solar relationship.

Ed Crossland, CTO, tours guests through Oxford PV's Brandenburg facility during the company's 10th anniversary celebrations

Oxford PV: Inside the Brandenburg factory where perovskite went commercial

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A decade after taking over a former Bosch and Johanna Solar site in Brandenburg an der Havel, Oxford PV is shipping perovskite-silicon tandem modules worldwide, marking ten years of commercial production with ambitious plans ahead.

Front and back of Winaico's WST-500BKX54-B2, back-contact wiring kept out of sight

Winaico's black module tops 24.5 percent efficiency

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A high-performance 500 W module joins Winaico's back-contact line-up, rated at 24.5 percent efficiency and backed by a 30-year warranty.

The Saracen Sands Hotel's rooftop array and the Mediterranean beyond

Italy – a Sicilian resort bets big on the sun to cut bills

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The Saracen Sands Hotel & Conference Centre near Palermo has installed a solar carport and battery system it expects will slash €500,000 a year off its energy costs.

The split in module pricing persisted through August

August PV Index: premium modules hold ground as demand cools

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Module pricing kept splitting along the premium line in August 2026, with TOPCon bifacial posting the month's strongest gain and Back Contact now the most expensive segment, even as inverter pricing moved unevenly and the demand signal continued to cool.

Alastair Mounsey is Vice President Europe at JA, formerly JA Solar

JA’s Alastair Mounsey: “Europe pushes us technologically”

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The VP Europe at JA discusses why Europe pushes the company technologically, its evolution into an integrated PV and storage supplier, and the European roadshow introducing partners to its next phase.

Mirror versus matt: ZRM+ in close-up

Megasol in-roof modules now glare-free as standard

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Level Up, the Swiss manufacturer's roof-integrated photovoltaic system, now comes with the ZRM+ module surface across the board, fully integrated and certified to a strict luminance threshold.

Grain structure without (left) and with (right) the caesium chloride seed layer, showing larger, more uniform grains after treatment

Germany – HZB achieves 30.3 percent efficiency in tandem cell trial

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A caesium chloride seed layer developed at the institute promotes more even perovskite growth on textured silicon, addressing a defect that had limited performance in solvent-free tandem cells.

Both sides count – the Apollon 2.0 captures energy from front and rear

Heckert Solar Apollon 2.0 is shingled, bifacial and German-made

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Featuring a patented shingle matrix developed at Fraunhofer ISE, the Apollon 2.0 delivers 450 to 460 W with enhanced shade tolerance and a 30-year warranty, developed, manufactured and tested entirely in Germany.

The iridescence comes from the layered electrodes, not from any added colour or coating

See-through solar cells are ready for the factory line

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Germany's Fraunhofer ISE and the University of Freiburg have combined sputtering and slot-die coating to produce organic PV modules with 43.2 percent average transparency, addressing one of the field's longest-standing scale-up problems.

A rooftop array high in the Alps – exactly the terrain HW4 certification is built for

Solarroof clears highest Swiss hail resistance class

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The company's Solrif in-roof and standard on-roof modules have both been certified to HW4, the top hail resistance classification recognised by Switzerland's Association of Cantonal Fire Insurers.

PV module prices moved in different directions

July 2026 PV Index: Premium modules pull further ahead as demand softens

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Full Black overtook the field to become the priciest module segment, while TOPCon bifacial kept easing. The PV PMI slipped to 65, its softest reading in months and a notch below the historical average, according to sun.store data.