Technology

A new Princeton University study shows that PV plants in hot, arid parts of the world, such as the Middle East and the U.S. Southwest, will be particularly affected by climate change.

The 18-meter long solar cell-clad trailer is said to enable fuel savings of 5-10% in Sweden. Swedish thin-film manufacturer Midsummer is a partner on the project.

International researchers have developed data quality routines to ensure data fidelity in O&M practices. They reconstructed invalid data through a sequence of filtering stages and inference techniques.

A U.K.-Portuguese research group is proposing a new solar cell design based on diffraction gratings – optical components that split and diffract light into several beams. They claim this could lead to a 125% improvement in light trapping.

Researchers have gradually improved the efficiency of CIGS thin-film tech in recent years. But scientists in Germany say the 23% rate achieved thus far is not the end of the story.

Moroccan scientists have tested reverse osmosis paired with PV generation to maximize chlorophenol rejection in wastewater treatment. They said the tech combination can help to reduce energy consumption.

The South Korean authorities plan to introduce new rules for PV waste recycling in 2023. Several recycling facilities are already being built, including one by the government, with a combined capacity of 9,700 tons.

The bill for full decarbonization of the economy – which is likely to see the decommissioning of no more than half the current coal fleet, with CCS doing some heavy lifting, according to the US-owned analyst – could come in at more than $5 trillion.

Fastned and Tesla have opened what they claim is the largest fast-charging park in Germany. Electric vehicles will be charged with green electricity – some of it from on-site solar and wind generation and the project includes 2 MWh of battery storage.

The power electronics company is offering a product which can work on and off the grid and enables the charging of dead batteries using a rooftop solar array.