Conceived by researchers in Estonia, the device is claimed to be compatible with both crystalline silicon and thin-film BIPV panels and to manage, easily, different voltage levels. It can be applied either in solar facades or BIPV rooftop arrays.

Developed by a Dutch consortium, the Hide and Shine Floating Solar (HAS FPV) technology is claimed to be extremely resistant to storms and harsh weather conditions. The modules can be submerged totally or partially and, in case of a severe storm, they can be submerged up to two meters below the surface.

German and Swiss researchers have published a new study that questions the idea of a continual decrease in renewable energy costs, given the reality of rising interest rates and higher carbon prices. They outlined a scenario in which interest rates could rise by up to 5% and public incentives for renewables would be gradually phased out. This could result in a loss of 535GW of new renewables capacity, compared to a scenario in which interest rates remain at current levels.

The Korean manufacturer and the German research center were able to improve the performance of their jointly developed tandem solar cell by almost one percentage point.

A German research group has used spectroscopic methods based on terahertz or microwave radiation and has discovered that they might help with more precise assessments of the characteristics and performance of solar cells. Their proposed approach purportedly enables the evaluation of maximum possible efficiency levels for emerging materials such as perovskites in solar cells.

Conflicts are arising within the Israeli government on how much land should be further allocated for ground mounted PV installations. According to the local renewable energy sector, more land is needed, inevitably, if the country’s renewable energy targets must be met.

Researchers in Canada have conducted a series of simulations to understand how spectrum splitters may raise the efficiency of two-terminal tandem solar cells and have found that efficiency gains may be of up to 6%. The proposed cell configuration was also found to be economically competitive.

A group of researchers in the United Kingdom is developing a modular, multi-vector energy system that can be installed into new homes and retrofitted into existing buildings to provide seasonal heat storage. In the proposed system configuration, a rooftop solar array would be used to power a heat pump or another electrical heating element, which in turn produces the heat to be stored by thermal devices.

The Hungarian energy regulator expects to contract around 864 GWh of renewable energy in the procurement exercise. Projects ranging in size from 5 to 50 MW will be entitled to participate.

Researchers in Australia have compared the firing resistance of p-type and n-type poly-Si/SiOx passivating contacts and found that the former have better resistance to hydrogen diffusivity and higher passivation quality after firing.