Technology & Products
Solar technology moves fast, as the industry pursues the joint goals of improving efficiency and lowering costs. From tiny tweaks in battery or solar cell materials, to optimizing large-scale system layouts, solar rewards effective innovations with a quick route to market.
As the industry grows, reliability testing becomes more complex and factors like recycling and critical mineral consumption come into the frame as well.
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Spacebound silicon
Solar has a long history in powering satellites and space exploration, and high-powered devices based on multijunction PV cells made from “III-V” materials such as gallium arsenide or indium gallium phosphide have supplied this niche market as far back as the 1960s. But those devices are made with rare materials and complex processing, limited to small batches produced at high cost.
8 hours ago
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Why German energy provider Rabot Energy is selling a 2 kWh AC-only battery, no solar required
Rabot Energy launched Rabot Flow, a 2.12 kWh plug-and-play home battery for German apartment renters that uses dynamic tariffs to charge when grid electricity is cheap and discharge during price spikes. Sold at cost and requiring no electrician or smart meter, the Marstek-based battery promises around €120–€130 in annual savings while helping Rabot boost customer retention and grid flexibility.
GoSun unveils solar-chargeable electric tractor
GoSun and Moonrider have launched a 27 hp electric tractor powered by a 24 kWh LFP battery, with optional 1.1 kW solar charging. The four-wheel-drive tractor offers about five hours of runtime and features a 750 kg hitch lift capacity, rear PTO and connected functions.
Rocket Lab launches 31.5%-efficient inverted metamorphic space solar cell
Rocket Lab has released its high-efficiency IMM Apex solar cell, eliminating costly and scarce germanium substrates while achieving 31.5% beginning-of-life conversion efficiency. The cell is reportedly 40% lighter than legacy triple-junction products and is designed as a drop-in replacement, improving spacecraft power-to-weight performance while reducing supply-chain risks.
Midsummer, Indonesian firm sign deal for CIGS thin-film solar manufacturing plant
Midsummer’s minority stake in a new Indonesian joint venture marks its second copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) manufacturing partnership abroad, following a similar equipment-and-know-how deal in Colombia and a decision to shelve its own planned Swedish factory.
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NREL research into potential for solar panels to be installed atop landfills
The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is evaluating sites for renewable energy potential on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency. A part of this will involve looking at where solar panels can be installed.
UL signs agreement of collaboration with CENER for PV modules
Safety testing and certification services company Underwriters Laboratories (UL) has signed an agreement with the National Renewable Energy Centre of Spain, CENER to cooperate in the field of testing and certification of photovoltaic (PV) modules.
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World record for highest efficiency of commercial scale thin film solar modules set
Miasole, manufacturer of copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin film photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, has announced that the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) independently confirmed the 13.8 percent efficiency of its large area production modules (one square meter in size).
UK PV market expected to grow five-fold
A five-fold increase in UK photovoltaic (PV) installations is expected this year, according to an analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) into the prospects for the UK solar PV market, which also said that Britain is currently lagging a decade behind other leading European countries in terms of solar installations.
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