Technology and R&D

France’s Genelios has developed an 8 kW modular solar canopy for motorhomes, offering manufactured-in-France construction, multiple installation options, and services that include design, monitoring, and maintenance for users across France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Luxembourg.

Researchers at Fraunhofer ISE have developed a perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell using a TOPCon bottom cell with standard textured front surfaces. Their results show that TOPCon bottom cells can perform comparably to heterojunction cells in tandem devices in terms of shunt resistivity, supporting scalable, cost-effective industrial production.

Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) has started accepting submissions for new road-surface PV technologies, with field verification planned in pedestrian areas at roadside stations to test performance and electricity use ahead of societal implementation.

AirWater and Suichoku Solar K. K. have launched a 178 kW vertical PV system at a Tottori parking lot, operating under an on-site PPA. The Verpa-based system, a first for the San’in region, maximizes space, avoids snow damage, and reportedly delivers power equivalent to rooftop solar installations.

Researchers in the United States found that shading from agrivoltaic systems reduces grain numbers in both sorghum and soybean, but sorghum can partially compensate by increasing grain weight while soybean cannot. The study shows that sorghum and soybean respond differently due to their physiology, offering guidance for crop selection and management to minimize yield penalties in agrivoltaics.

Chinese module manufacturer Longi says its Hi-MO 9 series with HPBC 2.0 cells achieved watt-for-watt power gains of 1.21% to 3.92% in real-world tests across multiple countries and climates, lowering the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) compared with mainstream tunnel-oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) modules.

A Swedish government agency is investing SEK 130 million ($13.8 million) in the next-generation indoor solar cell technology belonging to Exeger. The company’s Powerfoyle solar cells are an evolution of dye-sensitized solar cells and are said to offer 1,000 times better conductivity.

Researchers in China developed a new compressed air energy storage system that uses flooded roadways in abandoned coal mines to store compressed air and heat for nighttime power generation. Simulations show the design can achieve 71.5% thermal efficiency, stable performance, and higher energy density at greater depths, with minimal long-term impact from air leakage.

Researchers in the US tested the degradation of antimony chalcogenide solar cells exposed to proton radiation. The result indicated a robust tolerance and potential for use in space.

The Japanese electronics manufacturer is testing its glass-based perovskite solar PV technology in office windows made by YKK AP, a construction and building materials company.