Chinese PV Industry Brief: BASF, Oriental Yuhong to develop rooftop PV membranes
BASF and China’s Oriental Yuhong have developed thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) roofing membranes for rooftop solar PV applications, while GCL New Energy has sold 558 MW of operational solar capacity.
Solar power generation soars in Mexico, southwestern US
In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that areas across Mexico and Southern Texas saw reduced cloud, leading to 120-130% of average September Irradiance. Meanwhile, storms and a ‘Bomb’ cyclone caused by persistent low pressure over British Columbia delivered cloudier conditions, leading to irradiance as low as 70% of long term averages.
Large-area perovskite-silicon tandem PV cell hits record efficiency of 25.1%
US scientists have achieved a breakthrough in PV cell tech by creating a 24 cm2 perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell. It positions a lithium fluoride interlayer between a hole transport layer and the perovskite absorber to reduce shunting losses.
New research points to WRF-Solar forecast shortcomings
A research team in China assessed the accuracy of the WRF-Solar numerical weather prediction model in simulating global and diffuse radiation. The group’s work highlighted the model’s sensitivity to aerosol optical depth, cloud optical thickness, and solar zenith angle.
New hail test to assess impact of large, high-velocity ice balls on solar panels
A research group in Switzerland has enhanced the hail test stand to measure the impact of ice balls with larger diameters and higher speed on solar panels. The new testing approach will reportedly enable solar panel makers to assess their products with adequate safety margins.
Qcells fully acquires intellectual property rights for LECO tech
Qcells has acquired full ownership of intellectual property rights for LECO technology with the recent acquisition of Cell Engineering. The technology is known to enhance the efficiency of PERC and TOPCon solar cells.
Solar wafer prices hit record lows
In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.
France’s CEA developing tech to recover silicon, silver from end-of-life PV panels
The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) has developed a recycling process for end-of-life PV modules, recovering silicon and silver, using supercritical CO2. Virginie Basini, head of CEA’s sustainable technologies department, discussed the technique with pv magazine France.
Bismuth ferrite, tungsten trioxide thin films for PV cells
Researchers recently identified the optimal laser energy for crafting BFO/WO3 bilayer thin films for solar cells at 200 millijoules (mJ), by carefully considering factors such as leakage and band gap.
Pexapark says European developers secured 14 solar PPAs in September
Pexapark says developers signed 17 long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) in Europe in September, with 14 of them specifically involving solar projects.
