Technology

Rivas-Vaciamadrid-based company Aurinka is planning to start UMG silicon manufacturing in Puertollano, Castile-La Mancha, this year. The company says its patented low-carbon production process offers low enough manufacturing costs to compete with Asian rivals.

German panel maker Sonnenstromfabrik has developed a glass-glass monocrystalline PV module in three versions offering different levels of transparency. The company says the transparency feature makes the panels suitable for verandas, pergolas, awnings, carports, swimming pools, halls and facades. Their power output varies from 160 W to 280 W, while their efficiency ranges from 9.5% to 16.7%.

Researchers in Japan have demonstrated a new concept for a ‘heat-recovery’ solar cell, which they claim has the potential to exceed the theoretical limit for cell efficiency. They say, however, that a suitable material for the energy filtering layers is yet to be identified. The cell is equipped with a 100-micron thick silicon absorber, two electrodes and carrier-energy filtering layers placed between the absorber and electrodes.

Scientists in Germany and China have developed an additive which greatly improved the performance of a tin-based perovskite solar cell. Cells fabricated with the additive reached 9.1% efficiency, and the researchers say their work opens up many new possibilities to improve the performance of lead-free perovskites.

A Spanish start-up has developed a system which offers automated fault detection in solar panels at any scale.

In a recent conversation with pv magazine Roland Valckenborg, business developer and project manager at the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), has described the results of a multi-year testing program for colored BIPV modules. Just a few years ago, it it was thought that power yield could be up to 50% lower than conventional panels, but tests have shown a difference of just 10%. Valckenborg says that losses can vary depending on the color of a panel.

A simulation by Utrecht University researchers indicated North Sea PV projects may perform better than a ground-mounted solar generator in the Netherlands. Offshore installations could generate 12.96% more power per year, according to the findings of the study, with the sea acting as a cooling system.

Solar forecasting company Solargis says the insight offered by Covid-19 industrial shutdowns into a renewables-driven future serves to emphasize the value of the chief commodity it trades in – data.

France’s National Institute for Solar Energy takes a look at the state of play in the European solar panel recycling industry.

Two different studies published this week show new advances in the use of plasmonic enhancement to improve performance and stability of perovskite solar cells.