Highlights

Sunmaxx says Fraunhofer ISE has confirmed the 80% efficiency of its new photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) module. It consists of 108 PERC half-cells in M10 format, with 400 W of electrical output and 1,200 W of thermal output.

Germany’s grid authority has reported that the country added 874 MW of solar in January and 746 MW in February.

Swedish manufacturer Qvantum has developed a 6 kW heat pump for apartments connected to district heating systems. It uses propane (R290) as the refrigerant.

China reached a cumulative installed PV capacity of 314 GW by the end of February, according to new figures from the National Energy Administration (NEA).

Researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a free, web-based application that calculates the savings and energy efficiency of residential ground-source heat pumps compared to gas heating.

Global renewable capacity increased by 295 GW last year, bringing the world to a cumulative installed capacity of 3,372 GW, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

Karolina Attspodina, the CEO of Germany-based We do Solar, speaks with pv magazine about the tech behind the startup’s balcony solar kits. She discusses potential savings, shading impacts, and concerns about electrocution and fire risks with plug-in solar modules.

The European Heat Pump Association has compiled an up-to-date overview of subsidies for residential heat pumps in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Switzerland.

Solarix, a building-integrated PV (BIPV) manufacturer in the Netherlands, has developed a white variant of its facade solar panels. It says demand for white BIPV products is rising across Europe, especially among architects.

Researchers in China have built a perovskite solar cell with a 2D/3D heterojunction architecture. The device has an open-circuit voltage of 1.19 V, a short-circuit current of 25.21 mA cm−2, and a fill factor of 82.61%.