Modules & Upstream Manufacturing

Researchers in Turkey have studied the impacts of topography-induced shading on floating PV at the Ayvalı hydroelectric power plant and have identified differences between the regions with the highest and lowest electricity production potential.

Switerzland-based Lumartix has developed a steady-state solar simulator system for research labs. It claims a light emitter lifetime of more than 20,000 hours.

An international research team claims to have achieved greater stability in organic solar cells made with an electron transport layer doped with two-dimensional titanium carbide (Ti3C2Tx) – also known as “2D MXenes.” They used green solvents and an MXenes material known as titanium carbide (Ti3C2Tx).

A group of companies and research institutes are developing tools, technologies, and methods in a four-year project to promote building-integrated PV (BIPV), with the goal of clearing the path for mass deployment. 

Chinese manufacturer Red Solar says its new 182 mm bifacial solar cell, which is based on tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) tech, has an efficiency of 26.01%.

Researchers from Spain have developed a novel model to evaluate optical photovoltaic converters used in high-power optical transmission. They have found that indium gallium nitride (InGaN) and indium aluminum nitride (InAlN) semiconductors could provide better results than gallium arsenide (GaAs).

A team from South Korea’s Research Institute of Industrial Science and Technology (RIST) has developed a new method to increase the adhesion performance of EVA and POE on steel plates. The proposed technique may be applied to BIPV modules that use steel panels instead of backsheets.

Researchers in Italy have proposed the use of radiative coolers made of cementitious materials to reduce the operating temperature of solar panels. They incorporated Auger (AUG) and Shockley–Read–Hall (SRH) nonradiative recombination into their modeling and described the practical realization of the coolers as “attractive.”

RenewSys says its Conserv E–NT polyolefin elastomer (POE) encapsulant is specially designed to prevent the degradation of n-type TOPCon solar modules in the field.

China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) says the nation installed 163 GW of solar in the first 10 months of this year, bringing it to nearly 560 GW of cumulative installed PV capacity by the end of November.