Emiliano Bellini
Maxeon Solar sues Canadian Solar for alleged patent infringement on shingled technology in Japan
The SunPower spinoff claims that Canadian Solar has infringed its Japan Patent No. JP6642841B2 for shingled solar modules.
Kesterite solar cell with 8.66% efficiency and fill factor of 62.63%
Researchers in South Korea have analyzed the effects of alkali doping on the fill factor of kesterite solar cells and have built a device on a flexible metal foil optimized with a sodium fluoride doping layer.
III-V solar cells for PV-powered EV applications
According to a new study from Japan, the global installed PV capacity in solar-powered EVs may reach up to 50 GW by 2030. Its authors claim that solar cells with efficiencies higher than 30%, including multijunction III-V cells and III-V cells combined with silicon cells, are the best candidates for applications in the automotive sector due to the limited space of electric car rooftops. However, a series of technical and economic challenges must still be addressed.
Canadian Solar labels Solaria’s new patent lawsuit ‘flawed’
The Chinese-Canadian manufacturer acknowledged the latest legal filing, which it said will be instituted next month.
CdTe facade solar panel with 18.2% efficiency
New cadmium telluride solar panels are now available for applications on tall buildings in urban environments. Their efficiency ranges from 15.3% to 18.2%, with 110 W to 450 W of power output.
Over-irradiance events affect utility scale PV components
Researchers are seeking to understand the extent to which sudden spikes in irradiance can affect solar power plants. The preliminary findings indicate large scale PV projects are not immune to such events, especially when the spikes last longer than a minute.
Tunisia launches another 70 MW PV tender
The Tunisian government hopes to build six solar plants in its latest procurement round, with capacities of 10 MW each, in addition to 10 smaller solar arrays, each up to 1 MW in size.
Sharp unveils 440 W half-cut PV module with 19.9% efficiency
The Japanese manufacturer said the new solar panel features 144 half-cells based on M6 wafers and a nine-busbar design, with a positive power tolerance of up to 5%.
‘Nuclear power is now the most expensive form of generation, except for gas peaking plants’
The latest edition of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report indicates the stagnation of the sector continues. Just 2.4 GW of net new nuclear generation capacity came online last year, compared to 98 GW of solar. The world’s operational nuclear power capacity had declined by 2.1%, to 362 GW, at the end of June.
An optimistic – but realistic – perspective for sodium batteries
International researchers have analyzed the potential of sodium-based energy storage and found recent technical advances have arrived faster than those for the lithium-ion batteries which have been studied for three decades. Issues remain, however, before sodium constitutes a complementary option to lithium.
