Technology

Researchers have looked at how hydrogen-induced contact resistance could help to reduce changes in series resistance, in either TOPCon or PERC solar cells. They said degradation occurs purely at the n-type silicon-to-silver (Ag) contact on both cell architectures.

SolarX Grand Challenge aims to promote entrepreneurship and innovation, in order to address the energy gap in Africa through solar energy solutions.

A US-Canadian research group has built an all-perovskite tandem PV device with a record-breaking open-circuit voltage of 2.19 eV, which they achieved by reducing recombination at the electron transport layer.

Portugal-based Solaris Float has developed a swiveling floating solar platform with one- or two-axis tracking. It has installed its first project on a lake in the Netherlands. The project consists of 130 PV modules on a single-axis tracker, with an installed capacity of 50.7 kW.

Technische Universität Dresden researchers have designed new solar cells based on phase heterojunctions. They used two perovskite polymorphs to build a novel PV device with an efficiency of 20.1% and a fill factor of 84.17%.

An international research group has developed new technology to measure soiling losses in PV installations, by using a simple pocket light. They said the new system offers similar performance to their reference devices.

Swiss utility Axpo has built a PV system inside the dish of a disused satellite run by data-center operator Leuk TDC. Satellite dishes can be used to produce solar power, as they can be flexibly aligned to the sun.

Germany’s BayWa r.e. and Denmark’s Velux have announced the first agrivoltaic corporate power purchase agreement (PPA) in Europe. BayWa will build two solar parks in Spain to power Velux’s operations, with capacities of 60 MWp and 56 MWp. One of them will partly be an agricultural PV project.

Amptricity has emerged from stealth mode with plans to manufacture solid-state batteries for residential and commercial installations.

GKN Aerospace has demonstrated the feasibility of using a liquid hydrogen fuel source to increase the endurance of uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) for search and rescue. Germany, meanwhile, has announced €550 million ($572 million) of fresh funding for hydrogen projects across the world.