Technology and R&D

Arctech says it plans to open a 3 GW tracker factory in Saudi Arabia. The tracker manufacturer says the facility in Jeddah will be designed to reach up to 10 GW of capacity.

Alberto Boretti was a senior research professor at Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University in 2021 when he first started discussing the idea of a hydrogen city in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. The New Zealand-based independent tells pv magazine that it is now commercially feasible, as the city’s 200 MW of energy demand would necessitate 1 GW to 1.3 GW of solar and wind capacity, 509 MW to 997 MW of electrolysis capacity, and 145,000 MWh of hydrogen storage capacity.

Researchers at the Delft University of Technology have fabricated an interdigitated back contact and heterojunction solar cell that uses a thin full-area molybdenum oxide layer as a blanket layer. The device reportedly ensures well-passivated gaps between electron and hole collecting regions.

In its first monthly column for pv magazine, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) explains how a team of its experts is currently working on the definition of new standards for VIPV systems.

The Aswan High Dam Reservoir is one of the world’s largest water reservoir and suffers from high water evaporation rates due to the region’s very hot and dry climate. Floating PV installations may be a remedy, while also offering a good match for hydropower generation.

A group of scientists from the Germany’s Fraunhofer ISE has proposed a new metric to assess the performance of shingled solar panels. They also applied the so-called passivated edge technology (PET) to experimental shingled modules and found it can increase their pseudo fill factor without compromising their inteconnection quality.

Swedish thin film solar manufacturer Midsummer has selected a factory in southeastern Sweden to develop its new solar module production facility, which will produce copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar cells for the European market.

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (CATL) has shown its latest lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery at an auto show in Beijing. The Chinese company says it has an energy density of 205 Wh per kg, almost 8% higher than the current state of the art for such batteries.

Cordier, a winery in Bordeaux, France, is building solar carports at two of its facilities in southern France. The two PV arrays will be tied to 20 EV charging stations.

China’s Enerack says its new mounting legs are designed for 10-degree or 15-degree tilt angles. They are made of AL6005-T5 aluminum alloy and ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM), with a 304 stainless steel clamp.