Researchers in Italy have proposed the use of radiative coolers made of cementitious materials to reduce the operating temperature of solar panels. They incorporated Auger (AUG) and Shockley–Read–Hall (SRH) nonradiative recombination into their modeling and described the practical realization of the coolers as “attractive.”

The project consists of a 52 MW portfolio to be deployed across several locations in Saudi Arabia, including cities such as Jeddah, Riyadh, Khobar, Medina, and Mecca. The solar arrays will sell power to Saudi retailer Cenomi Centers under 20-year PPAs.

US-based Johnson Controls says its new 1,406 kW compound centrifugal heat pump is able to deliver high-temperature hot water as high as 77 C.The system reportedly has a combined coefficient of performance of 4.9.

ISC Konstanz researchers say their new n-type tunnel back contact (TBC) solar cell features polycrystalline silicon TOPCon contacts on both polarities. The results still need to be confirmed by an independent third party.

NTU Singapore researchers and startup EtaVolt presented a high intensity illumination device that can reportedly “patch up” the holes caused by light and heat in silicon solar cells. The new technique is claimed to reduce solar module degradation by up to 5 years and to be usable for around 90% of the solar modules available in the market.

Newton Energy Solutions claims its new thermal storage system is ideal for houses equipped with solar panels and either heat pumps or gas boilers. The battery has an energy storage capacity of 20 kWh to 29 kWh.

Belgian PV product distributor Ecostal has acquired Project Zero, a business-to-business specialist in Flanders, Belgium. It did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.

A Spanish research team aims to bring concentrating photovoltaics closer to commercial viability by miniaturizing its components. The scientists claim that smaller CPV cells may reduce production costs and enable better CPV module assembly.

A group of researchers in China has developed an energy management system for modular gravity storage. Compared to single block gravity storage, the modular counterpart offers more flexibility in output power, ease of mass production of related equipment and better flexibility in the selection of weights.

CEA-INES researchers and Enel have developed a new solar cell with an active area of 9 cm² and an open-circuit voltage above 1,900 mV. Their results improve on the 27.1% efficiency they achieved for the same kind of cell in June.