Technology

FuturaSun has revealed plans to expand its production capacity in China and its home market, Italy. Its new all-black solar panel features a power conversion efficiency of up to 21.60%.

The latest World Nuclear Industry Status Report shows that nominal net nuclear generating capacity fell by 0.4 GW between 2020 and 2021, even though six new reactors were switched on throughout the world last year. This brought the share of nuclear power in the global electricity mix to below 10% for the first time in four decades.

A growing number of residential solar projects include energy storage batteries. In the first part of this series, we look at the backup power feature of batteries.

Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology researchers have unveiled designs for advanced solar hydrogen production systems to broaden the application of LC biomass. Mitsubishi has started building the world’s first validation center for hydrogen-related technologies, while Fortescue Future Industries has announced investments in Germany and Australia.

India’s Statcon Energiaa has developed an outdoor inverter solution for microgrids that can integrate multiple energy sources, including renewables (biomass, wind, hydro and solar), battery storage, and diesel generators. It can deliver continuous, voltage-stabilized power to the loads and supports AC and DC coupling.

An energy transmission system operator (TSO) has announced plans to install a 250 MW battery project in Kupferzell, Germany, in order to transmit wind power from the northern part of the country to the south.

Waleed AlHallaj, the head of business development for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) at JinkoSolar, recently spoke to pv magazine about the prospects for the regional energy storage market. He said that storage systems have already penetrated markets with weak grids, such as Yemen and Lebanon.

Germany’s Fraunhofer ISE is applying its FlexTrail-printing technology to the direct metallization of silicon heterojunction solar cells. It said the technique reduces the use of silver, while maintaining high efficiency levels.

Creaton and Autarq have developed a modular solar tile for complex rooftops. The product is reportedly compatible with all common PV inverters.

Enel Green Power’s initial tests show that the addition of DC/DC MPPT converters to a pilot PV plant has driven a 1% energy production gain. It now plans to deploy the solution on a 1 MW power plant in Italy.