Technology

Small farmers in the Indian state of Bihar are making productive use of solar energy to reduce their losses and increase their income, thanks to an innovative pay-per-use cooling service for perishable produce.

Norwegian researchers have used a year-on-year approach, considering the combined effect of temperature, humidity, and ultraviolet irradiation, to assess the degradation rate of polycrystalline modules with a temperature coefficient of -0.43%, mounted with an approximately 10-degree tilt, and located in eastern Norway. They found that these modules degrade in the range in the range of 0.1-0.19% per year, which is 0.4% less than panels operating in other climates.

German manufacturer Robert Bürkle GmbH has obtained a first instance judgement preventing a rival company from producing equipment that infringes on its patents. The decision of the Intermediate Peoples Court in China is not yet final, and the rival company has already filed a complaint against the ruling.

Household heat pumps, EV chargers and rooftop solar panels will be able to earn their owners benefits in return for helping to balance grid networks struggling to accommodate new solar and wind power generation.

Backsheet failures have plagued the industry, causing hefty financial burdens to many asset owners. DuPont has launched a product it says allows for easy repair of modules.

Researchers in South Korea have fabricated a cadmium-free heterojunction kesterite solar cell based on a zinc sulfide oxide Zn(O,S) buffer layer. They used a one-minute ammonium sulfide (NH4)2S treatment process for surface cleaning and passivation of the cell’s CZTSSe absorber.

The two brands announced a strategic project at the SNEC solar conference and trade show which will see the establishment of trading and big data centers to help roll-out PV in China.

NASA scientists have partially cleaned up the solar modules of the Insight lander operating on Mars, by using grain sands collected nearby and trickling them on the panels during the windiest time of the day. This handmade technique has made it possible, according to them, to increase the PV array’s yield of about 30 watt-hours of energy per ‘sol,’ or Martian day.

Defect engineering for silicon heterojunction solar cells has come a long way. But Matthew Wright, a solar researcher at the University of New South Wales, asks whether these proven efficiency gains could be applied more effectively.

The solar cells for the space station were provided by Boeing’s subsidiary Spectrolab.