Technology and R&D

A Western Australia-based hybrid solar and battery system developer has demonstrated its hybrid units deployed in remote locations for businesses and communities can potentially replace around 150 litres of diesel per day.

Stanford University professor Mark Z. Jacobson spoke to pv magazine about recent research work showing that California could easily rely on a wind-water-solar-dominated large grid. He says the state’s current electricity prices are high because of several reasons that have nothing to do with renewables. These include high fossil gas prices and the cost upgrading aging transmission and distribution lines, among others.

The Chinese manufacturer said its new LB-5D-G2 battery offers excellent performance with 5.12 kWh capacity for a single unit and up to 81.92 kWh for 16 batteries running in parallel.

A British-Swedish research team has reviewed all models for designing and simulating solar-powered heat pumps systems of various complexities. Based on this work, the scientists proposed a new method combining five models across multiple computer programs into a single analysis tool that reportedly produces accurate critical metrics for technical, economic, and climate impact analysis.

Tesla’s Shanghai Megapack factory, its first outside of the United States, has begun trial production.

University of New South Wales researchers investigated the impact of sodium-induced degradation in heterojunction solar cells under accelerated damp-heat testing. They considered three different types of sodium salts and identified the degradation mechanisms attributed to each contaminant.

The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (PVPS) highlights key performance indicators (KPIs) for PV systems in its latest report. It calls for clear KPI definitions and standardized data handling to enhance system efficiency and reliability.

As the penetration of variable renewable energy increases, curtailment of solar PV generation will only increase. Since curtailment will almost always be cheaper than investing in new transmission capacity or new grid-scale storage, curtailed energy should be rewarded, so that PV investment decisions can include curtailment as one of the flexibility options for grid operators.

Scientists have designed a novel control approach for water-to-water heat pumps that use carbon dioxide. They relied on a virtual heat pump for their tests. The coefficient of performance (COE) improved by up to 14.6%.

Researchers in China claim to have built a perovskite solar cell that can effictively reduce ion migration and offer superior stability. The device utilizes an ultrathin membrane made of a polymeric material known as PDTBT2T-FTBDT (D18), which reportedly offers conformal coverage on the surface of perovskite film due to its high fluidity.