Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Up to 50% of the energy absorbed by a solar cell is lost as heat. Scientists are now developing a third generation of “hot carrier” solar cells that take advantage of this heat, potentially breaking the Shockley-Queisser limit of silicon-based PV.

Stanford University scientists have developed a solar cell with 24 hours of power generation via an embedded thermoelectric generator, which extracts power from the radiative cooler at night. Extra daytime power from excess heating comes from the cell itself.

Boviet Solar has announced plans to rebrand its modules, while shifting its focus to new cell technologies.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) said that 90% of respondents to a recent survey about the US anti-circumvention investigation expect a severe or devastating impact on their businesses due to the ongoing probe.

Researchers in Mexico have looked at integrating hydrogen-based power-to-gas-to-power into an existing rural microgrid. They said this solution could become competitive if electrolyzer, fuel cell and hydrogen tank costs are halved, or if diesel prices keep rising.

UK-based analyst Exawatt and Germany’s Nexwafe published a white paper this week that takes a close look at the current state of PV manufacturing worldwide, and how Nexwafe’s innovative wafer production tech might fit into it. They said that if the potential of its Epiwafer can be realized, the PV industry may yet see “another revolution in wafer manufacturing.”

Zhonghuan Semiconductor has ramped up wafer prices, China Resource Power has secured 5GW of solar panels, and GCL-Poly is preparing to rebrand as GCL Technology Holdings. China’s Guangxi Zhuang region, meanwhile, has announced plans to deploy 16GW of PV.

An international research team has designed a carbon-based perovskite solar cell without a hole transport layer. Two plasmonic nanoparticles – Ag@SiO2 and SiO2@Ag@SiO2 – were added to the cell photoactive layer, in addition to a copper(I) thiocyanate (CuSCN) interlayer at the perovskite-carbon interface.

Germany’s Ostermeier H2ydrogen Solutions has developed an electrolyzer that works with tap water, with bottles to store hydrogen and a fuel cell or a Wankel engine to produce electricity. The system has a capacity ranging from 1kW to 100 kW, which corresponds to hydrogen production of 0.2-20 Nm3/h.  

French solar company TSE has developed an agrivoltaic rotating canopy that allows large agricultural machinery to move under the panels. The solution consists of a rotating structure that can host bifacial solar modules at a height of more than 5.5 meters, with a four-post structure measuring 27 m x 11 m.