Large-scale PV has positive environmental effect on desert areas
Researchers from China found that big solar power plants have a positive positive impact on the ecological environment of desert areas. Their testing was conducted at a 1 GW solar park located in China’s northeastern Qinghai province.
Agrivoltaic community solar under development in New York state
BlueWave has started working on three agrivoltaic community solar projects in Johnstown, New York, totaling 16 MW.
MCPV moves forward with 4 GW solar cell factory in the Netherlands
MCPV, a Netherlands based cell manufacturer, has secured €4.2 million ($4.6 million) of Dutch government support for a 4 GW solar cell plant to be built in the town of Veendam. It has also obtained electricity supply commitments for initial production lines and future expansion.
Quartz crucible quality key to reducing impurities in silicon ingot manufacturing
Researchers from Norway and Germany investigated the influence of impurities in fused quartz crucibles used in silicon PV ingot production. The results suggest that the key factors influencing crucible uniformity are sand quality, sand particle size, and aspects of the manufacturing process.
Agrivoltaics for hedgerow olive orchards
Researchers in Spain have created a new model to accurately estimate oil production and energy generation in agrivoltaic facilities built in hedgerow olive orchards. The proposed approach also allows the generation of mathematical equations estimating the influence of the system design variable.
Heliene secures $54 million investment to expand US manufacturing
Heliene has obtained a $54 million investment from Transition Equity Partners to expand its solar cell and module production in the United States.
Cando Solar unveils frameless 450 W heterojunction PV panels with 22.6% efficiency
The Chinese manufacturer says its new frameless heterojunction panels rely on busbarless technology and 210 mm wafers. The new products also feature a temperature coefficient -0.29%/C and weigh only 12.3 kg.
MIT scientists build PV-driven desalination system that reacts to changes in sunlight
The proposed brackish water desalination system uses photovoltaic electrodialysis to enable direct-drive desalination at high production rates. It already operated for 6 months on real brackish groundwater and was reportedly able to use 94% of the extracted PV energy.
The impact of sodium, moisture on heterojunction PV module performance
Researchers in France have investigated heterojunction solar module reliability in damp heat environment and have found that sodium ions are the main source of degradation.
Rooftop PV installations could raise daytime temperatures in urban environments by up to 1.5 C
New research from India shows that rooftop PV system may have “unintended” consequences on temperartures in urban environments. Rooftop arrays, for example, may potentially lower nighttime temperatures by up to 0.6 C.
