Italian researchers have analyzed different ways to assess the levelized cost of energy (LCoE) of perovskite solar cells and modules. They said a common approach should soon be defined to increase the market maturity of the tech.

Sweden’s cumulative installed solar capacity hit 2.6 GW at the end of December.

The potential of perovskite solar cells and modules is still held back by issues such as stability and efficiency losses when scaling up from cell to module. But Annalisa Bruno, a scientist at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, says most of these challenges could be overcome in the near future, with this technology extending from building-integrated PV to conventional solar projects.

The African Development Fund is helping the Eritrean government to deploy a 30 MW solar facility in Dekemhare, Eritrea. It has launched a tender to seek consultants for the project.

Egyptian researchers have used paraffin wax as a phase-change material (PCM) to reduce the operating temperatures of PV modules. They have found that the material improves power yield by more than 15%, compared to a reference module without cooling.

Scientists in Austria have developed a long-term energy storage system that uses regenerative braking to adjust the descent speed of sand in mine shafts and generate electricity.

Solar project developers see fewer opportunities to build PV facilities in the northern Netherlands, as grid bottlenecks are becoming worse.

The World Future Energy Summit showed that Middle Eastern solar markets are still driven by utility-scale PV, although the C&I sector shows signs of growth. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates are the most promising markets for big solar projects, with huge pipelines under development, while Lebanon and Yemen show promise due to chronic energy shortages.

The South African government has provided figures on “embedded generation projects” that are currently under development in the country. It also revealed that it will soon launch a tender for big storage projects.

Qatari researchers have looked at the degree to which cleaning robots could threaten the physical integrity of solar panels. They found that cleaning machines have a very minimal impact and that modules of similar sizes tend to exhibit roughly the same amount of vibration.