Technology

New research from Iran shows that PV installations linked to battery storage may help prevent accidents and increase safety in nuclear power plants by acting as an emergency load. The scientists proposed a system design that considers both technical and economics factors.

Scientists in Japan have developed a lead-free tin sulfide solar cell that is intended for applications in tandem perovskite-silicon PV devices. Through a new passivation technique based on the use of phenylsilane (PhSiH3) as a reducing agent, they were able to considerably increase the cell efficiency compared to a reference device with no PhSiH3 treatment.

Norwegian floating solar specialist Ocean Sun has deployed a 270 kW system based on its novel membrane technology at the saltwater port of Tazacorte on La Palma, one of Spain’s Canary Islands.

In a new monthly column for pv magazine, the International Solar Energy Society (ISES) explains how reducing glass thickness in PV modules may fracture the solar industry, impacting PV module and PV tracker suppliers, engineering, product and construction companies, and PV plant owners.

Fly Solartech Solutions Srl’s new 60-cell modules have a power conversion efficiency of 17.87% and a temperature coefficient of -0.27% per degree Celsius. The company offers the panels with 300 W, CEI-021-certified microinverters featuring 96.5% peak efficiency.

Scientists from Finland have built an experimental system that allows the drying of woody biomass with solar thermal energy and a heat pump. They claim PV may play a complementary role in the proposed setup.

Virtual power plants (VPPs) coordinate home energy resources, dispatching power to the grid at key times of high electricity demand in exchange for compensation.

Thresholding methods have commonly been used to characterize the soiling accumulated on glass coupons. Researchers led by the Sapienza University of Rome have identified 16 automatic thresholding methods that may be used for analyzing soiling on PV panels.

Tin selenide solar cells have so far reached limited efficiencies in real applications. Bangladeshi scientists claim to have found a way to drastically improve their performance by adding a copper/indium/selenium (CIS) thin-film layer and a back surface field (BSF) layer.

Third-party tests of GDI’s 100% silicon anodes show that they offer more than 30% energy density than graphite anodes, allowing for 15-minute rapid charging up to 80% state of charge (SOC) for hundreds of times back to back.