Technology and R&D

Scientists in india have created a wind-solar system in a tree shape, which combines wind turbines and a PV system with two-axis trackers. The team constructed a hardware-in-the-loop prototype that can generate up to 444.5 Wh per day.

Germany’s Ait Group has introduced residential ground-source heat pumps using less than 150 grams of propane, based on results from the Fraunhofer ISE LC150 research project. The new systems deliver up to 6 kW of heating with a seasonal coefficient of performance of 5.14.

Solar accounted for 22.1% of electricity generation in the European Union in June, as 13 member states set new records for the share of solar in their national power mixes.

Researchers have combined the theory of planned behavior, the technology acceptance model, and diffusion of innovations theory to investigate rooftop solar adoption in China. From a 1,200-person survey, they found that subjective norms and social influence from peers and community had a surprisingly more substantial effect than personal attitudes or perceived ease of use.

Researchers in Portugal have used the so-called Arrhenius aging model to measure the temperature behaviour and reliability of different solar modules. Their analysis showed that long-term module performance can diverge significantly depending on the manufacturing processes.

The Dutch company says its short-term trading solutions for solar and other renewable energy technologies, supports grid balancing, reduces the costs of imbalance, and optimizes energy flows in an “increasingly volatile” energy market. It is growing internationally, and expanding its support of battery-related trading.

pv magazine visited a 1.9 MW agrivoltaic plant in Austria where pumpkins and soy are cultivated beneath vertically mounted PV structures supplied by Next2Sun.

Testing conducted by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) in Germany has shown that perovskite solar cells operating at high latitudes in Europe may suffer from higher performance losses in winter compared to conventional PV devices. The scientists warned, however, that at lower latitudes this seasonality may be less pronounced.

A U.S.-based collaboration between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and CubicPV has yielded a perovskite minimodule with certified efficiency of 24.0%. The two noted that it is the first time a U.S. effort has set a record in the perovskite mini module category.

Superdielectrics launches the Faraday 2 battery, advancing a water-based, metal-free approach to home storage, from a UK-based facility.