Technology

Agri-food tech specialist N2OFF says it has entered the PV business by lending €375,000 ($407,000) to Israeli PV developer Solterra Renewable Energy. The loan is part of a larger €500,000 agreement, with the remaining €125,000 to come from other parties.

Mecosun says it has introduced a new solar carport in three formats, using low-carbon concrete and an embedded module mounting solution.

Australian software developer PV Lighthouse has secured almost AUD 1.97 million ($1.32 million) to drive development of its SunSolve Yield advanced simulation engine, which is designed to improve yield forecasting for utility-scale solar projects.

EneCoat Technologies, a Japanese solar perovskite developer, has raised JPY 5.5 billion ($35 million) from new and existing investors to finance new collaborations based on its low-temperature production process.

Scientists in Iraq used a k-Nearest Neighbors algorithm to evaluate the operational status of PV modules under various conditions, including partial shading, open circuit, and short circuit scenarios. They found that the overall performance of the model in predicting power output was “notably accurate.”

An international research team has proposed a series of optimization techniques for antimony trisulfide (Sb2S3) solar cells that may reportedly increase the efficiency of these PV devices to over 11%. The resulting new cell design is said to significantly improve band alignment control and parameter optimization.

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) researchers have gained insights into perovskite microstructure. After removing grain surface concavities in the crystalline grains of perovskite, they fabricated a solar cell with improved efficiency retention under standardized thermal cycling, damp heat, and maximum-power-point tracking tests.

Germany-based Phytonics has developed a self-adhesive film with microstructures to reduce glare on PV modules. It is available in sheets and rolls for new and existing PV systems.

The rapid growth of renewable energy in Brazil has not been matched by transmission and distribution infrastructure. Connection restrictions for both “distributed-” and centralized-generation sites are leading companies to adopt new strategies to maintain expansion, reports pv magazine Brasil’s Livia Neves.

First Solar says it is evaluating potential infringement of its patents for its tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) tech, secured through the acquisition of TetraSun in 2013. The US thin-film solar module manufacturer has not named the companies involved or given a timeline for the investigation.