A U.S. research team has sought to improve the way aluminum hydride is used for hydrogen storage. The material was nanoconfined in a framework that is claimed to be able to overcome the challenge represented by the thermodynamic limitation of hydrides in storing the clean fuel.

U.K. researchers have developed a battery with a photocathode made of vanadium dioxide, which is used to harvest light and store zinc ions and zinc oxide as a charge transport layer. The device showed an efficiency of around 1.2% and capacity retention of around 73% after 500 cycles.

The Japanese manufacturer decided to close its CIS module production in October and has now launched its first 250 W monocrystalline product for the residential market.

Through the inventory, an international group of researchers was able to identify 68,661 PV facilities, totaling 423 GW across 31 countries. According to the scientists, the online database provides insight into global trends for PV siting decisions, as well as into the gap between facility-level final investment decisions, construction start dates, construction completion dates and facility operations.

The Solliance consortium has built a solar cell in a four-terminal tandem configuration that combines a 17.8%-efficient highly near-infrared transparent perovskite cell with a prototype of an 11.4%-efficient c-Si interdigitated back contact silicon heterojunction cell developed by Panasonic.

An Indian research group has used three different chemicals instead of commonly used hydrofluoric acid to separate silicon from the cell. The technique is claimed to be able to deliver recycled silicon with a purity of up to 99.9984%.

The South African authorities have published the list of the preferred bidders of the fifth round of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP). Around 2.58 GW of renewable energy capacity was allocated through the procurement exercise.

The result was confirmed, once again, by Germany’s Institute for Solar Energy Research Hamelin (ISFH).

The new product has a power conversion efficiency of up to 19.3% and a weight of 11.2 kg. The module is produced with glass fiber reinforced plastic, which the manufacturer says reduces light reflection and opens up new assembly options.

Israel-based Augwind has built its first 250 kW/1 MWh compressed air storage system for the collective community of Yahel, in the southern, desert part of the country. The commercial scale facility will be connected to a PV system and will be used for behind-the-meter services.