China polysilicon prices climb 50.7% from July low despite growing inventories
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.
Hail damage to solar projects: 1% of filed claims, but over 50% of total losses
Hail damage has become a real headache for project developers in the United States, where growing deployment has increased exposure to weather-related risk. As project owners seek to limit the impact of hail on their bottom line, innovations in tracking systems and insurance can help.
Increasing crystalline silicon solar cell efficiency with caesium bromide
A new collaborative study between six universities, including three in Australia, has demonstrated how caesium bromide can significantly improve the efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells.
Solar Stewardship Initiative sets new targets, reporting requirements
The Solar Stewardship Initiative (SSI) says all solar modules bound for the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the United Kingdom must come from manufacturing sites certified for both environmental, social and governance standards and supply chain traceability by early 2028.
Meyer Burger gives up on selling itself as a whole, sells U.S. solar production tools
Sales of module and cell production equipment to, respectively, Waaree Solar Americas and Babacomari North Solar further thin chances of any Meyer Burger revival of its domestic production.
German airport installs solar modules on chimney of thermal power plant
Cologne-Bonn Airport has installed 80 adhesive photovoltaic panels on the 27-meter chimney of its cogeneration plant in a pilot project using Heliatek modules.
Chinese scientists build 10.48 cm2 kesterite solar module with 10.1% efficiency
The efficiency result was confirmed by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The module was fabricated with 13.4%-efficient kesterite cells designed with high film porosity and uniformity.
PV-powered thermal distillation device with self-cleaning, cooling
Scientists in Hungary have built a prototype of a thermal distillation device, supported by PV power. The PV panels use an IoT component that self-cleans when dust is detected and cools itself when the temperatures are too high. The system achieved a daily freshwater yield of 6.1 L/m2⋅day.
NREL researchers warn of unexpectedly high UV-induced degradation in n-type solar modules
A research team from the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory has analyzed n-type modules deployed in a 3 MW commercial PV project in an effort to assess the high degradation rate reported by the plant owner. The scientists found that ultraviolet-induced degradation (UVID) was a major factor affecting the facility’s performance.
Scaling perovskite tandems’ U.S. prospects
Three US manufacturers actively working to commercialize their respective perovskite-silicon tandem technologies make the case for tandem modules. CubicPV, Caelux and Swift Solar argue a commercial future for perovskites is inevitable, and they tell pv magazine the current policy environment could work in the technology’s favor.
