Technology

Israel’s Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure says it is currently developing a multi-year program for communities attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7. It aims to deploy 5 GW of energy in the destroyed areas, once residents return.

Scientists from Israel have calculated how long it would take for PV plants and afforestation projects to offset their warming impacts caused by the darkening of land. The results showed that in drylands, PV fields could be over 50 times more efficient than afforestation.

Scientists in China have designed a kesterite-kesterite solar cell with an optimized structure that may potentially achieve efficiencies nearing those of crystalline silicon PV devices. They improved the performance of the two subcells by adjusting band alignment at interfaces, selecting proper buffer layers, and adding a double layer to both devices.

Hail losses in the United States exceeded $1 billion in 2021.

Nextracker has specifically designed solar tracker solutions for the challenges of the Indian landscape, by addressing issues such as undulating terrain and fluctuating irradiance conditions at utility-scale sites, Vice President and Managing Director Rajeev Kashyap tells pv magazine.

Sax Power has developed a 5.8 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery, priced at €4,957 ($5,403) for end customers, with a smart meter for precise electricity delivery.

Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE) and Heckert Solar have developed a rooftop solar panel in Germany. The 400 W module, featuring M12 half cells, boasts an efficiency of 20.5%. The collaborative effort led to the establishment of a brand-new production line dedicated to this module series.

A global research group has compared static, customized dynamic, and dynamic-by-default energy allocations at a collective self-consumption project in France. They have found that dynamic customization performs better due to tax benefits.

A Swiss company has developed adhesive film that can be applied on solar panels to make them more aesthetically appealing. The film reduces electricity production by between 10% and 30%, but income from advertising could offset such losses.

Danish researchers investigated how solar-powered Carnot batteries could be integrated into decommissioned coal power plants to produce clean energy. They found that a 300 MW retrofitted plant coal plant with 1.37 GWh of thermal storage capacity has the potential for annual net power production of up to 1,150 GWh for 12 h storage at a levelized cost of energy of €88.09 ($95.97)/MWh.