Solar PV equipment provider Shenzhen S.C. has announced its plan to issue convertible bonds to raise up to 961 million RMB (around USD$134 million). The funds will be invested in manufacturing equipment for perovskite and perovskite tandem solar cells, aiming to advance the company’s position in the rapidly expanding market for these advanced solar technologies.

Shenzhen S.C. intends to use the raised funds to establish production facilities for perovskite and perovskite tandem solar cell equipment in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, China. The project is projected to take around 2.5 years to complete and will have an annual production capacity of 160 physical vapor deposition (PVD) equipment, 119 reactive plasma coating (RPC) equipment, and 60 vacuum evaporation coating (VEC) equipment.

German photovoltaic thin-film tubes developer, Tubesolar, has reportedly filed an application for the opening of insolvency proceedings. The appointed administrator will initiate a merger and acquisition (M&A) process to find a future solution for the insolvent startup. 

The insolvency filing was made soon after Tubesolar indicated it had no sufficient financial resources to cover its short-term financial needs. It was said that salaries of Tubesolar’s employees are secured for three months through insolvency benefits.

The National University of Singapore (NUS) and REC Solar, the solar power arm of the Singaporean Renewable Energy Corporation, have launched a S$77 million (US$57.4 million) solar cell research initiative.

The project, called the REC@NUS Corporate R&D Laboratory for Next Generation Photovoltaics, will be led by two co-directors, professor Amrin Aberle, CEO of the NUS’ Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore, and Shankar G Sridhara, chief technology officer of REC Solar. The university announced that the initiative will develop and commercialize “disruptive” PV technologies, based on perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells in particular.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) has issued a notice of intent (NOI) to release a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) of up to $36 million for research, development, and demonstration projects on two major thin-film photovoltaic (PV) technologies: metal halide perovskites and cadmium telluride (CdTe).  

The DOE stated that advancing perovskite and CdTe technologies will help scale domestic solar manufacturing capacity, strengthen the solar supply chain, and speed solar deployment.

It was reported that U.S-based CubicPV secured US$103 million in equity financing. While it is meant to support its plans to develop a US silicon wafer production base, CubicPV also said that this capital will support its research into perovskite-silicon tandem technology. 

“Today’s announcement underscores the considerable progress we’ve made, the depth of our engineering competence and the strength of our technologies to deliver a more powerful solar future,” said Frank van Mierlo, CEO of CubicPV. “We thank SCG Cleanergy for their confidence in our manufacturing goals and product roadmap.”

India-based P3C Technology and Solutions has announced a fund raise of $250,000 with a further commitment of $3 million based on successful trails. The funds will be used to demonstrate the flexible perovskite solar cells to various government and private bodies like Indian Railway and automobile manufacturers. 

According to P3C, the investment comes from Oberoi Thermit Private Limited, a company with an impressive history of introducing new and innovative products and services which are highly beneficial for Railways. The organization is always looking to introduce new and improved technologies in India which can benefit the country. They are responsible for the introduction of some of the most safety critical technologies in Indian Railways like 3D Scanning of Bridge bed, Bridge Health Monitoring, Vehicular Ultrasonic Testing of rails, Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing of welds amongst other things. 

A project from Oklahoma State University was selected to receive a $750,000 grant from NASA.

The grant will go toward efforts in exploring a fully Vacuum Thermal Evaporation (VTE)-processed halide perovskite solar cell using only solid precursors for developing a simple solar panel manufacturing process suitable for space.

Italian solar company, FuturaSun, has acquired Solertix, a start-up specialized in perovskite solar cell research and upscaling for industrial applications.

This acquisition represents a major investment for FuturaSun in scientific research and in the development of innovative technologies. Alessandro Barin, CEO of FuturaSun, emphasizes the strategic importance of this step, stating, “Perovskite is the future of high-efficiency photovoltaics, and in this specific R&D segment, we couldn’t afford not to be key players, working alongside those who are dedicated to scientific research at the highest academic levels.”

American Perovskites (AP), a material and equipment supply company, has recently been named a finalist in the American-Made Startup Contest and awarded $200,000 to synthesize a novel family of polymer hole transport materials. AP is working with a host of players including Colorado School of Mines, TDA Research, TandemPV, and The University of Toledo. Their innovation is industrial synthesis of a novel family of polymer hole transport materials with excellent reliability, optical properties, and cost.

Another finalist in this contest was Perotech Energy, whose innovation is developing perovskite bifacial modules using high throughput and low-cost solution process with high stability and energy yield. 

Hanwha Q Cells, the solar panel unit of Hanwha Solutions Corp., has announced a large investment of 136.5 billion won (around USD$102 million) to establish a test facility for mass production of perovskite-silicon tandem cells and modules at its Jincheon plant in North Chungcheong Province. The trial operations for the new facility are scheduled to begin in the latter half of next year.

In collaboration with its German R&D center in Talheim, which currently operates a small-scale test production line for R&D purposes, the company plans to launch full-scale mass production of tandem cells in the second half of 2026.