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The relocation of the photovoltaic manufacturer’s core business from Germany to the USA is taking shape. Production of heterojunction solar modules is starting and financing for a new cell plant is progressing.

Also on the rise: Siting solar projects for best environmental results. Top solar panel brands in reliability, quality, and performance. And more.

At Intersolar in Munich, pv magazine spoke with Jenny Chase, solar analyst at BloombergNEF, about the incredibly low polysilicon prices, massive overcapacity, and increasing consolidation. According to Chase, this year there will be enough polysilicon capacity to produce 1.1 TW of solar modules, but global module demand is expected to reach around 585 GW. “That is a pretty huge delta,” she said, noting that the solar industry should also prepare for a series of “negative feedback mechanisms,” such as negative prices and excess of solar power.

Solar modules are evaluated in the Renewable Energy Test Center annual PV Module Index.

A new white paper from Clearloop identifies key U.S. regions for best carbon displacement impact of new clean energy projects.

In a partnership with Duke Energy valued at an estimated $248 million, the U.S. Department of Defense will be the exclusive purchaser of all output generated by two new solar facilities, which will serve five military bases.

The recent agreement brings the total to 2 GW of solar modules that the community solar specialist will purchase from Qcells, mostly manufactured in its facility in Georgia.

An industry plagued by deceptive practices is now verifying salespeople via a platform called Recheck.

In May 2024, high-efficiency panels, predominantly glass-glass modules equipped with tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) cells began to converge on price with mainstream offerings, writes Martin Schachinger, of pvXchange. Production volumes for these negatively-doped, “n-type” cells and modules have been ramped up in China while the increasingly restrictive customs situation in the United States may already be having an impact. For the European market, ever-lower prices for the latest module technology would suggest that demand would continue to rise were it not for a number of disruptive factors.

Maine has hired a consulting firm to evaluate whether forming a distribution system operator could speed deployment of distributed energy resources and support other state goals. Consultants are reviewing how the approach is used in five other countries.