Scientists at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne have developed a new ‘chemical innovation’, for the deposition of perovskite solar cells onto a substrate. The method is shown to produce cells at better than 23% efficiency, that remained stable after 500 hours testing at a raised temperature.

Dutch materials company DSM has sold its resins and functional materials businesses, which encompass its anti-reflective and anti-soiling solar glass coating products. That will mean a focus on module backsheets in DSM’s Advanced Solar business unit.

In a pv magazine webinar earlier this month, Trina Solar took us through some of the key considerations for the PV industry’s rapid switch to new, larger format modules based on 210mm wafers. The rise of such modules raises important questions up and down the supply chain. Here, Lim Cheong Boon, Head of product and marketing at Trina Solar APAC, and Andrew Gilhooly, head of TrinaPro for Asia Pacific respond to some of the questions from the audience that we could not cover in the one-hour webinar.

With the Japanese conglomerate this week walking away from two new nuclear plants in the United Kingdom, project developer Horizon Nuclear Power has confirmed all activities at both sites will cease. The facilities had struggled to secure funding despite offers from government. Horizon said it will ‘keep lines of communication open’ regarding the future of the sites.

Scientists in the United States theorize that a ‘double absorber’ cell comprising two active thin-film layers within one cell stack could achieve impressive efficiencies, whilst eliminating many of the challenges inherent to the design of tandem cells. For now though, it’s only on paper.

Scientists in Saudi Arabia headed outdoors to test the effects of the region’s high desert temperatures on the performance of small perovskite-silicon tandem cells in several different configurations. Their findings could offer new insight into selecting the best materials for long-term stability in the field.

Scientists in South Korea combined two processes to etch a nanostructure of tiny pyramids onto the surface of a silicon wafer. As well as trapping more light and increasing the cell efficiency, the group claims that its nanostructure improves the mechanical flexibility of the cells. This could potentially allow for the use of much thinner silicon wafers than is currently possible in production.

Germany based PV equipment supplier RENA Technologies has received what it describes as its ‘biggest ever order’, from a tier 1 manufacturer in Asia, for 15 GW of its wafer texturing equipment. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed, although the company states that the order is worth “tens of millions of euros.”

Spread across this week, the 37th EU PVSEC conference brought together companies and research institutes from Europe and further afield. This year’s presentations point to an industry standing at a crossroads. New challenges lie ahead, but there is plenty of optimism surrounding continuing growth and a more central role for PV in energy systems over the next decade. As the conference drew to a close on Friday, pv magazine offers five key takeaways.

Scientists led by the University of New South Wales have looked into the long-term degradation of silicon-heterojunction. Their findings suggest that illumination at high temperatures could actually improve cell efficiency, but also risks activating multiple light-induced degradation mechanisms if not carefully controlled.