A German research group is trying to determine whether the combination of solar and storage with direct coupling and without the aid of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) electronics is feasible. According to its findings, this particular configuration might be efficient, but it will likely require special panels and batteries.

The 6.5 MW solar project will be built with PV modules supplied by Croatian manufacturer Solvis d.o.o.

U.S.-based tender platform has invited proposals for projects ranging in scale from 50-500 MW on behalf of an unnamed client which is a member of the RE100 clean energy campaign. European developers have until July 20 to lodge their bids.

Researchers in Kenya are seeking to reduce the influence of the Geomagnetic field on PV panel performance by replacing aluminum module frames with a steel cage. They have specified they have been unable to quantify costs related to the solution, and that more research is needed.

A 103 MW solar park built by Danish developer European Energy has been connected to the grid after a year of construction work. The project had been started in 2011 and at one stage appeared doomed, when a national feed-in tariff program ended.

New Kenya Cooperative Creameries has finalized the preliminary phase of a tender to buy electricity from a solar facility that will be built at its new KCC Sotik Factory. The installation is expected to cover around 40% of the site’s power needs.

SPS, an Algerian metal sandwich panel manufacturer, has signed a partnership deal with Dubai-based mounting system provider Qi-energy to begin production of mounting structures for PV systems in Algeria.

Scientists in the Netherlands have claimed that a heterojunction metal wrap-through solar module they are designing could offer a 4% performance improvement over conventional heterojunction panels.

An international research group has developed a self-cooling PV system featuring a 250 W 60-cell polycrystalline module and a thermal collector attached to the back side of the panel. The cleaning tech is based on a microcontroller programmable integrated circuit, which controls a rotating DC motor.

The EU-funded Nextbase project aims to manufacture heterojunction, interdigitated back-contact solar modules for less than €0.275/W. Solar panels featuring the Nextbase cell tech are expected to have a conversion efficiency of 23.2%, according to the European Commission.