September 2021

Scientists in Russia have developed an active cooling technique that spreads water on both sides of the module and uses a cotton wick mesh to absorb and spread the water that comes on the rear side. The system is able to reduce significantly a module’s operating temperature and lead to an overall improvement of 30.3% in its output power.

Some time ago, when I lived in the center of Berlin, I was a regular at the farmers’ market to buy fresh fruit and vegetables. One greengrocer advertised his wares with the words “cheap today, expensive tomorrow.” It would almost be desirable if we PV wholesalers could offer our modules with a similar slogan. Unfortunately, no one in the industry can currently claim that solar modules are cheap – quite the opposite. Following a brief respite, prices have climbed again in recent weeks. Since the previous low in September 2020, prices for new, grade-A goods have already risen by an average of 20% to a level not seen since April 2019.

SunDrive said it has created the most effective commercial-sized silicon solar cell in the world, achieving an efficiency figure of 25.54% in testing carried out by Germany’s Institute for Solar Energy Research (ISFH).

Does higher energy production outweigh an increase in costs? Clean Energy Associates tries to answer this question in a new case study.

The result is claimed to be the highest efficiency ever reached for a large-area, polymer film-based perovskite photovoltaic module. The device has an area of 703 square centimeters and was fabricated through a new coating method.

An independent third-party has approved the European Commission’s safeguards to ensure the projects in member states financed by €250 billion of green bonds over the next five years, will have genuine emission reduction credentials.

Scientists in the United States explored the use of all back contact architectures for perovskite solar cells. The group notes several advantages to this strategy, as well as challenges to overcome. Ultimately, the work outlines a route to cell efficiencies better than 20%.

Rollercoaster stocks, unpredictable interest rates and continuing Covid chaos on global exchanges have apparently convinced the developer to invest in what it deems is a safer bet.

The Latin American country may see unprecedented growth for PV systems not exceeding 5 MW in size during this decade, according to Brazil’s state-run Empresa de Pesquisa Energetica (EPE) agency. New rules now under discussion in the parliament may further boost this market segment and lead, eventually, to another 30 GW of installed solar power.

In his second article, Philip Wolfe founder of Wiki-Solar lists the world’s largest individual solar PV power plants. The biggest solar parks and other clusters of plants will be listed in subsequent blogs.