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All articles of topic solar modules

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.

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 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Our picks of the week – black modules, brains and battery boxes

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Winaico launches a black module at 24.5 percent efficiency. Enwitec's Brain Home controls wallbox, heat pump and storage. Conduct expands its Roofsupport range, and Intilion introduces modular large-scale storage for industry.

The carborane core (left) and its two functional arms, approaching the perovskite surface

Germany – HZB compound squeezes more from perovskite tandems

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Researchers at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin for Materials and Energy have developed a carborane-based electron transport material that raises perovskite cell efficiency by up to 2.4 percentage points, addressing a longstanding stability weakness in the process.

Prof Dr Ilija Nasov heads the Macedonian Solar Association and the Plasma R&D Centre in Skopje

25 years in solar innovation: coatings, PVT and what came next

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A leading figure in European materials research for renewables, Prof Dr Ilija Nasov has spent decades shaping solar technology. He shares his personal route through EU research programmes with PV Europe.

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.

Najwa Abdel Latif inspects shingled-matrix cells on the stringer at Fraunhofer ISE

New silicon cells take aim at the cost of space power

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US start-up Source Energy and the German research institute Fraunhofer ISE have developed shingled-matrix silicon modules for satellites, aiming for under five dollars per watt and six-month delivery, cheaper and faster than standard III-V cells.

Pick of the week: these alpine solar modules can handle heavy snow loads, strong winds and intense UV radiation

PV Europe‘s pick of the week – tougher modules, faster roof planning

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Solitek shows new rugged solar modules. Valentin adds 3D building models for planning with a mouse click. A robust firefighter switch for PV systems, and Solar-Planit's new start page and project management round off this week's picks.

Module layout view, where a rogue skylight is no match for drag-and-drop planning

Solar-Planit puts project overview front and centre

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Baywa r.e. Solar Trade has overhauled the start page of its web-based PV planning tool, adding Kanban boards, custom project statuses and expanded management features for specialist contractors.

Fire-red, wall-mounted, clearly marked – the FWS-PV is doing its part

Re'graph toughens up FWS-PV firefighter switch for the outdoors

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Now available in fire-red sheet steel, the FWS-PV firefighter switch gives arriving crews a clearly marked control point to shut down a live PV installation without delay.

Every roof in a 100 metre radius, imported automatically and waiting for panels

PV*Sol premium gains 3D building import via Rexplorer

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A new interface enables PV*Sol premium to import LiDAR-based 3D models of German buildings automatically, pulling in every structure within a 100 metre radius of the target location.

Pick of the week: these alpine solar modules can handle heavy snow loads, strong winds and intense UV radiation

PV in the extreme: Solitek takes to the slopes

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On a steep Swiss mountainside, elevated steel frames must keep panels clear of snow and carry them through decades of wind and UV – a job Solitek's Alpine modules are built for.

LONGi founder and CTO Li Zhenguo presents the Technology Forest in Shanghai

LONGi plants a Technology Forest of eight innovations

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The module giant's 2026 Shanghai launch stacked eight innovations spanning cells, modules, hardware and software, lifting standard module output above 690 watts, and possibly the whole sector past its ruinous price war.