Technology

Researchers in the Netherlands investigated the potential for integrating power electronics in solar cells in the form of diodes, transistors, capacitors, and inductors. They believe that this kind of PV cell may initially find applications in PV-powered Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices and later, as the economy of scale kicks in, in large-scale applications.

France’s Q Energy has developed a new way to combine solar generation and the cultivation of hops, which can grow up to 8 meters in height. The agrivoltaic system consists of two mounting units with 52 bifacial PV modules.

Romania has unveiled a state aid scheme to support investments in the production of hydrogen powered by solar, hydro and wind, while Air Products and Gunvor have agreed to build a hydrogen import terminal in Rotterdam.

Buildings, particularly those with glass facades, are getting closer to self-powering, according to Australian scientists who recently developed a 15.5%-efficient, semi-transparent solar cell that allows more than 20% of visible light to pass through.

Norway’s Glint Solar has developed cloud-based software that finds suitable surfaces for solar parks. It analyzes factors such as the distance to the grid or substations, topography, soil depth, and solar radiation. The tool can also be used for preliminary project sizing.

India’s Sanvaru is expanding its lithium battery production capacity to 400 MWh per year by setting up a new factory in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Its devices are used for stationary and EV storage.

Spanish heating specialist Elnur Gabarron offers a residential heating system that works with surplus solar power and storage heaters. The system can work as a backup solution, combined with existing conventional heating, or as a household’s main heating system, with minimal use of grid electricity.

A research group led by Chinese manufacturer JinkoSolar has developed a tandem perovskite-silicon cell with a subcell based on TOPCon tech. The group succeeded in reducing voltage losses in the silicon sub-cell by minimizing the shunting probability during device fabrication.

Scientists from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have said that the combination of floating solar with hydropower could reduce PV curtailment.

Mitsubishi Electric’s new 2.0kV LV100 semiconductor device is based on its insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) technology and Relaxed Field of Cathode (RFC) diodes. It is designed for industrial applications that need “middle-ground” power converters between DC1500 V and 3.3 kV.