Technology

In an interview with pv magazine, vice president of GoodWe, Ron Shen, talks about the company’s plans for Germany, Spain, Africa and India, in addition to its goal to triple production capacity to 15 GW in China. He also discusses the effect of China’s 31/5 policy change, and plans for an initial public offering (IPO).

Renewable energy sources, notably solar and wind, are reaching price and performance parity on and off the grid, shows a report from accountancy firm Deloitte, highlighting seven trends that are driving this transformation.

The Dutch company provides lithium iron phosphate batteries and employs artificial intelligence solutions for mobility-as-a-service applications. It aims to develop its technology further with the help of the University of Twente.

A team led by Switzerland’s Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale Lausanne has developed a low-dimensional perovskite layer it says can be used as a capping layer on perovskite solar cell material, improving stability and water resistance. The team reports a 20% efficient cell incorporating the material.

The market for EVs is experiencing robust uptake worldwide with companies, governments and municipalities implementing policies to drive development. EVN and EVBox announced plans for expansion this week, and the UK government is also pouring investment subsidies into the electric vehicle market.

In PERC modules, both light and elevated temperature induced degradation (LeTID) and light induced degradation (LID) must be mitigated. What makes this tricky, however, is that the mitigation process of the first, counteracts that of the second, says Karin Krauß, R&D project manager, Rehm Thermal Systems. At the pv magazine Roundtable in Taipei next week, she will discuss possible solutions with cell and module manufacturers, and EPCs.

The Sahara Desert, and the Sahel region, could be set to take advantage of large-scale wind and solar power projects covering huge surfaces.

The benefits of deploying bifacial solar panels on single-axis trackers are touted like snake oil these days, with promises of anywhere from 5 to 50% gains in energy output compared with a monofacial panel. Unfortunately, the field data that might delineate the actual energy gain of a bifacial panel on a tracker are hard to acquire, and the data that are available typically describe small-scale tests under tightly defined conditions.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has offered funding to nine Australian universities and research organizations to propel innovation in green hydrogen export.

The scientists have shown how the control of the molecular structure of a semiconductor polymer makes it possible to obtain a PV conversion efficiency of more than 10% for an organic solar cell.