Technology

The EU today confirmed natural gas-fired power and heat generation facilities can qualify for Covid-recovery spending as long as they fulfil a maximum emission target or are accompanied by credible member-state plans to ramp up renewables usage.

The panel features an efficiency of 20% and a thermal power of 600 W-thermal per square meter.

U.S. scientists have put luminescent solar concentrators in a windowpane to absorb certain light wavelengths and transmit them to solar cells. The concentrators are made of a conjugated polymer sandwiched between window layers.

The new devices feature efficiencies ranging from 20.7-21%. The panels are said to be compatible with a wide range of slates and tiles, include special fixings for different batten thicknesses, and achieve the highest fire rating and wind resistance without modifications to the roof.

A refinery of Italian oil product provider Saras will host a large scale electrolyzer that will produce hydrogen to be used as a raw material in the refinery itself. The green energy production will be set up by Italian energy company Enel.

SolarEdge e-Mobility will supply Fiat with full electrical powertrain units and batteries for the automaker’s E-Ducato light commercial vehicle.

South Korean scientists have produced a solar cell based on antimony selenoiodide, with a 4.1% efficiency, a short-circuit current density of 14.8 mA cm2, an open-circuit voltage of 473.0 mV, and a fill factor of 58.7%. They claim the cell exhibits excellent stability in humid conditions.

In various forms, quantum dot technology has attracted plenty of attention among PV researchers recently. And as efficiencies have crept past the 15% mark, the community is beginning to look at other factors limiting the viability of quantum dot solar cells in a commercial setting. Scientists in Germany examined the degradation mechanisms affecting different quantum dot materials; and suggest a standardization of stability testing to enable comparability of results.

Italian start-up Italvolt wants to build a €4 billion EV battery manufacturing facility in Italy. The site for the project is currently being identified, and the factory’s initial capacity should reach 45 GWh.

A British-Chinese research group has created a new framework to assess the performance and efficiency limits of photovoltaic-thermal solar panels. They say that the improvement of spectral-splitting (SS) filters in the devices will be the key to their future commercial success.