First Solar

First Solar’s recent earnings provided several updates, highlighting a company that is financially confident while steadily increasing its bets on next‑generation technologies, especially perovskites. The company's net sales reached 1.0 billion USD in the first quarter, the company’s strongest Q1 on record, with module volumes up more than 30% year over year. Profitability was also notably higher, helped by improved factory efficiency and sharp reductions in freight and warehousing costs, and the company ended the quarter with around 2.4 billion USD in cash and investments, giving it plenty of room to fund new manufacturing lines and R&D.

R&D spending rose to 67 million USD in the quarter, up 15 million USD from a year earlier, with management explicitly tying this increase to perovskite development and the rollout of its CURE (CuRe) technology. Rather than treating these as short‑term expenses, the company framed them as deliberate, strategic investments aimed at maintaining a technological edge beyond its current CdTe platform.

First Solar has announced a patent licensing agreement that gives it access to existing issued patents and currently pending patent applications of Oxford Photovoltaics (“Oxford PV”).

The non-exclusive license paves the way for First Solar, a giant in the solar field and the world’s largest producer of thin film solar technology, to continue advancing its development of photovoltaic (PV) solar devices employing a perovskite semiconductor for potential applications in the US utility-scale, commercial and industrial and residential markets. The scope of the license covers the potential manufacturing and distribution of such products in the US and excludes crystalline silicon semiconductors. Other terms were not disclosed.

UbiQD, a developer and manufacturer of quantum dot technology, has acquired BlueDot Photonics. The deal includes perovskite-based quantum cutting technology and exclusive rights to BlueDot’s associated intellectual property, initially developed (and licensed from) the University of Washington.

Seattle-based BlueDot Photonics develops solutions to improve solar panel performance. BlueDot's doped perovskite materials convert high-energy photons into nearly twice as many lower-energy photons, according to the company, and the technology could increase silicon solar panel efficiency by up to 16%. The technology has the potential to reduce the cost of solar energy generation and push photovoltaic performance beyond the theoretical limits of traditional silicon-based cells.

ART-PV India, an IIT Bombay-incubated start-up, has been awarded a $10 million grant by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). The funding will enable the company to set up a manufacturing plant for high-efficiency tandem solar cells.

ART-PV has developed a 4T cell with PCE >30% on small area ~1 cm², which will be transferred to 2T using industry partners supplying semi-processed bottom sub-cells.

Researchers from Northwestern University, University of Toronto and Griffith University have developed a new protective coating that significantly extends the life of perovskite solar cells, making them more practical for real-world applications.

Typically, perovskite solar cells use an ammonium-based coating layer to enhance efficiency. While effective, ammonium-based layers degrade under environmental stress, including heat and moisture. The team has now developed a more robust layer — based on amidinium. In experiments, the new coating was 10 times more resistant to decomposition compared to conventional ammonium-based coatings. In addition, the amidinium-coated cells also tripled the cell’s T90 lifetime — the time it takes for a cell’s efficiency to drop 90% of its initial value when exposed to harsh conditions.